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Some of my earliest garden memories as a child are planting rows of pea seeds with my parents, and then at harvest time stuffing my pockets with pods. It was an exciting day when I discovered at around age 12 that there are far more to peas than just regular green shelling peas. Yellow snow pods, purple snap pods, speckled soup peas... to this day they're a plant near to my heart.Peas are divided up into shelling peas, snow peas, snap peas, and soup peas. Shelling peas are the common, crack open the pod and eat the peas inside kind. Both snow peas and snap peas have edible pods; snow peas are broad and flat and sweetest when quite young, while snap peas are round with thick crispy pod walls, and usually sweetest when more fully developed. Soup peas are left on the vine and harvested when fully dry. Any kind of pea can be dried on the vine of course (that's how we save seeds), but soup peas are usually extra productive.
They all grow in pretty much the same way, and they're among the easiest veggies.
Growing Peas in the Maritimes:Peas thrive in cool moist weather. They especially love the long springs of coastal BC, where I began my early gardening career, but they're quite adaptable and happy across the rest of Canada too. We always direct sow our peas, starting in early spring (April, or even late March depending on the season), right up until mid-June when hotter weather arrives. Although peas like it cool, their seeds can rot in cold wet soil. We can get away with early sowings in our sandy loam, but in heavier soil it would be wise to wait. I know a few folks with heavy clay soil who start peas inside and transplant them out for this reason. I like the plant the seeds densely, about 2" apart within each row. The vines don't mind close quarters. The plants send out tendrils as they grow, to grip onto anything and everything around them for support. Some varieties like Snow Wind and Spring Blush have extra prolific tendrils, and have an easier time supporting themselves. Short growing varieties are often fine planted densely with minimal extra support, while tall varieties can reach up to 6-8 feet when they're well supported. Mesh netting, bamboo stakes, sticks from the woods and old recycled fish netting all make great pea supports. I sow mine in two parallel rows per bed, with a row of mesh staked in between, cut to different heights for different varieties.As legumes, peas fix nitrogen and can tolerate less than awesome soil. However they do best in moist, well amended soil (but then, which vegetables don't?). They tolerate partial shade quite happily, in fact some shading from summer heat can be ideal.After planting and staking, I pretty much let my peas do their thing until harvest time.Saving Pea Seeds:Saving seeds for peas is very easy, just leave the pods on the vine to dry and collect them when they're ready. Ideally the vines can be left in the garden until the pods are fully brown and the seeds rattle inside. Here in NS that ideal often works, but late summer rains can make it a dodgy proposition some years. If the pods are nearly dry, with a rainy spell coming, often I'll pull the whole vine and hang them inside to finish drying. As long as the pods are still attached to the stem, they'll continue to develop and draw energy from the plant.Once the pods are crispy and dry; just thresh them, winnow them, and you have your seeds! Or dry soup peas as the case may be.Pea flowers are self-pollinating, and crosses are very rare.
We are growers and stewards of heirloom and open pollinated seed. Our goal is to cultivate the greatest possible diversity of seeds for our region. Our collection acts as a living seed bank for the Maritimes and Eastern Canada.
We never repackage commercial seed. Much of our seed is grown on our farm in Nictaux, or else by a handful of dedicated seed growing friends across the Maritimes. 100% grown in Atlantic Canada.
Like always, all our varieties are open pollinated and can be saved for seed, a simple yet important act I want to see every gardener doing. Thanks for supporting local seed, and for keeping seeds in the hands of the people!


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Vegetable Tart
View the method
- • 2 sheets Pams reduced fat flaky puff pastry
- • 200g Ricotta
- • 3 Eggs
- • 1/2 teaspoon smoked Paprika
- • 2 cups Diced roasted vegetables – kumara / pumpkin / zucchini / red onion / capsicum
- • 50 g Feta
- • 1 tablespoon Pams Pumpkin seeds
- • Ground sea salt and cracked pepper
- • Fresh Basil leaves
Back to ingredients
Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
Use the pastry sheets to line a 23cm tart tin with a loose base, trim the edges then chill for 10 minutes.
Combine the ricotta, eggs, seasoning and paprika then mix well.
Spoon the ricotta mixture into the pastry tart shell and smooth. arrange the vegetables on top, crumble over feta and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.
Place on a baking tray and cook for 40-45 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the filling is set in the centre.
Remove tart from the tin and top with fresh basil leaves before serving.

subset: commoncrawl


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Mean Creek (2004)
★★★★ / ★★★★
Jacob Aaron Estes' "Mean Creek" does something in special in that not once does it look down on its subjects: young people who must make a choice after something that cannot be taken back has occurred. The moral calamity these characters veer themselves through commands a seriousness that many movies about responsibility hope to delve into but ultimately only graze.
The only way to tell the story of what happens to these kids is with directness and simplicity. By stripping away potentially distracting elements like quirkiness in the dialogue, teleportation between perspectives, and turning on a soundtrack that gives a hint on how we should feel or what we should think, it makes room for introspection. We understand each of them–where they come from, their dominant personalities, what it is that hurts them most–and so we are given a chance to be honest with ourselves. We relate with them–even to the ones who appear to be the most despicable.
Sam (Rory Culkin) is attacked by George (Josh Peck) at school. Believing that fifteen minutes of detention for a week is not a good enough punishment for the wounds on Sam's face, not to mention the social embarrassment, Rocky (Trevor Morgan), Sam's older brother, is convinced that something else has to be done. But he is smart. Rocky tells Sam that they need to hurt fat George without really hurting him, at least not a kind of punishment that leaves a mark. So, a plan about a boating trip is made and George is invited. Since George does not have many friends, he happily accepts. He figures that maybe this time is a true opportunity for him to belong in a group.
There is a portentous aura that brews during the car ride to the river and when the boat is making its way downstream. Silence between dialogue is utilized when it counts. The water gently sloshing against the boat might as well be the kids' guilt banging on drums. We wonder if they will ultimately go through with the plan. Sometimes the conversation is friendly. For a while, the game of truth or dare is full of laughs–as it should be. But there are other times when conversations turn ugly. George expresses his disgust about Clyde (Ryan Kelley) having two fathers at home. And then there is Marty (Scott Mechlowicz), the eldest of the group, whose life at home has been difficult since his father's death. George has a knack for pushing everybody's button. Something's gotta give.
When the picture takes a dark turn, it is dealt with honesty. The kids who return home from the trip are changed somehow but the accompanying scenes are not predictable. There is no hyperbolic crying or screaming, just a feeling of exhaustion, disbelief, and wanting to hide from the world and oneself. The shame takes root and yet, surprisingly, I think it is what gives them a chance to recognize what should be done even if there is pressure to pretend like nothing important happened that day.
"Mean Creek" shares a similar consciousness with pictures like Larry Clark's "Bully" and Tim Hunter's "River's Edge" because the story revolves around complicated choices before and after an irrevocable thing. In some situations, there is right and wrong. While choosing the wrong thing can be perceived as a moral tragedy, so is allowing oneself to become unaware of the fact that there is always an alternative.
Categories: Film


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Viewing Property
Created | Updated Nov 14, 2008
A new home will undoubtedly be the most expensive investment you ever make, so it makes sense to find out as much as you can about your new property before you buy it. You can normally tell with a cursory glance if a property is totally unsuitable, so don't waste time on places you have no intention of purchasing. If you are serious about a property, you'll want to take another, in-depth look at your potential future home. This time take at least one other person with you - many eyes spot many problems - but leave your children with sitters: it's hard to take in the details when you are desperately trying to stop your child playing with the current owners' expensive family heirlooms. Don't be afraid to arrange more than one visit. Providing there isn't too much competition for the property, the more times you view it, the better your judgement will be. The more information you can obtain about a property, the more likely you are to spot any potential problems with it. The small details, which are often overlooked, can make a big difference to a property's price.
Questions to Ask at a Viewing
The owners of the property aren't obliged to tell you about any problems it may have, but they are legally required to answer honestly any questions you ask them. It's a good idea, therefore, to go prepared with a set of questions you can ask the vendors, or estate agent, while you're actually in the home. Remember, however, not to rely on their information - always get it verified by an independent expert as well.
Take a list with you so you don't forget to ask any of the important ones, and make as many notes as you can the moment you finish the viewing. Many vendors bend the truth to help sell their homes, these questions are designed to help spot those lies and help you know which things need the most thorough investigation.
Why are you moving? - You'll want to know that the family isn't moving just to get away from the house - for example, because of nightmare neighbours, a late-night flight-path or because it is about to collapse. But remember to ask yourself whether the reason they give seems plausible.
How long has it been on the market? - If it's been on sale for over six months, there may be a good reason why no-one else wants to buy it. If it has been on the market a long time and you really cannot understand why it would have been, you might like to ask the current owner if they have any idea why that might be.
How long have you lived here? - The longer the better - anyone jumping ship after less than a year should have a very good reason. If they took a week of living in the place to discover that everything in the kitchen is in the wrong place, and that it's far too far to the bathroom late at night, you don't want to make the same mistake.
Have you found a new house? - It can take months or years for some people to find the right property to move to, so you should have an idea before you start looking of how long you are prepared to wait once you've found a place you like. Ask whether the owners are prepared to rent or stay with relatives until then?
If there is already a chain, how long is it? - Since people like to have a home to move into before they sell their previous house, a 'chain' can develop, of people waiting for other sales to be finalised before they finalise theirs. The longer the chain, the longer this process will take to be resolved and the higher the chance of someone pulling out.
What are the neighbours like? - You probably won't be told they are psychopaths, but it's a good sign if the seller knows them by name.
Is there a neighbourhood watch scheme? - This should give a good idea of whether or not the neighbours look out for one another.
Have you ever been burgled? - If a house has been broken into once, it often becomes a repeat target.
Have you made any improvements to the house? - It may have been recently rewired or had the heating system upgraded, but was it done by a qualified tradesman, or by an enthusiastic DIY-mad owner?
Do you have the guarantees? - All respectable professionals give a guarantee for their work; if the paperwork isn't there, you should question the quality of the work.
How much is your...
- Council tax?
- Gas bill?
- Electricity bill?
- Water bill (metered or rates)?
Sometimes you can only really tell how much amenities will cost by living in a house, but remember that usage differs from family to family, so only take these figures as a rough guide. If any of these seem too high for the size of the property, there could be a serious problem somewhere - high heating costs, for example, could mean bad insulation, or even a leak.
When was the last boiler service? - It's always good to know how well an owner looks after things in his home.
How old is the central heating? - This is probably the most expensive bit of kit in a house, make sure you know if it may cause you problems.
How old is the wiring? - Many older houses have outdated and possibly dangerous wiring in them.
Where is the stop-cock? - You need to know how to isolate the water in an emergency. If the main valve is out of reach, why wasn't it properly relocated?
Does your property ever suffer from environmental damage, like floods or subsidence? - The world's sea level is constantly rising, so make sure you won't need to wear flippers during the rainy season.
Where does the main sewage pipe run? - If the vendor doesn't know, there is a good chance he hasn't had any problems with his drains.
How old is the roof? - This is another expensive thing to renew or repair.
Which fixtures will be coming with the property? - (Carpets, curtains, lampshades, etc). Don't set your heart on the beautiful antique patio-stones, only to find the owner took them with her.
Which appliances will be coming with the property? - (Fridge, stove, oven, microwave if installed, etc). You should assume everything is going, unless you're told otherwise.
How old are the appliances that are staying? - Are they under warranty still and does the warranty transfer with ownership?
Have the appliances been repaired? - When? Why? By whom?
Do you get many insects/pests? - Wasps nests, unwanted cats, etc.
Who collects the garbage and when? - Find out whether there have been any problems with this.
Is your house haunted? - Even if you don't believe in the supernatural, this question will tell you a lot about the present owners. It may also give you an insight into the current state of repair of the house: perhaps the 'ghost' is actually the product of creaking floorboards or a wind-tunnel in the roofing.
When is the noisiest time of day? - Did the owner tell you that you are under a main flight path, or in a short cut used by local drivers in rush hour?
How long does it take to walk to the local amenities? - List the ones that you would use most, like schools, buses or train stations.
One final tip is to record your viewings with a camcorder or instant camera. Memory is very patchy and we tend to only remember the extreme good and bad points of a property. The camera never lies, so you can go back and check whether your oversized fridge freezer will fit into that gap by the backdoor at your leisure.


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Contact Us
- Toll-free: 800-533-8095
- 702 Terrace Heights
Winona, MN 55987-1320
- Questions or comments?
Showing 1–2 of 2 results.
This worksheet guides group members to work together as they identify the importance of the church being "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic".
This worksheet guides students to read and answer questions about a specific Hebrew festival from the book of Leviticus.


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Monday, June 09, 2008
Dancing with Matt
I ran into several of my Burningman friends that I haven't seen in ages. I thought I may see some there as several are friends with Matt and his girlfriend.
More pics from the event can be found in my Dancing with Matt set on Flickr.
Posted by gapey at 10:25 AM
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Google has announced their planned improvements to AdWords which they will be rolling out in the near future. Any online marketer worth their salt has already watched the live stream and come to their own conclusions about what these planned changes means to them. As an online marketer myself I have a few thoughts I'd like to share.
Google has been driving home the importance of mobile devices for a while now and they even go so far to admit it themselves. They were smart enough to anticipate mobile adoption, especially since they had a vested interest with the Android platform and the Google Play store falling under their umbrella. However they can't bank on AdWords advertisers being similarly enlightened or forward thinking and have altered how AdWords campaigns are set up to naturally include mobile devices. This way the mobile ad market won't be under populated or monopolized by the enlightened few.
However this is all old hat for those in the know. Google stresses that we shouldn't be focusing on the devices themselves, but instead the users of those devices, especially since it's the user that will be buying your product and not their smartphone. It was probably inevitable that the focus did shift from people to devices in the bid for mobile advertising adoption to pick up. Google would like to realign our efforts to back to the customer.
Using cross device data to supplement a user's search results is one way of doing this. If a user does a mobile search, and that search is relevant to an app on their device, then an ad can display to take the user directly to the relevant content in the app. This aids users in learning the value of apps that they have installed but haven't come to use often yet.
This sounds like an elegant re-engagement mechanism, if it weren't for the fact that the ads still need to be paid for. It could too easily become habitual for users to use this shortcut as the method for accessing relevant content on the app, at the cost of the advertiser, instead of converting to using the app naturally. This might not matter to Google very much, because they are keeping true to their promise of offering user re-engagement tools whilst making a healthy income from it.
Google mentions that there is an 80% drop off rate in app usage after installation. This is a horrifying statistic for app developers, who wish to retain all of their users if they could. It might just be me but I feel there's an intense effort here to minimize an ugly statistic, which is otherwise just natural human behavior in my opinion, by introducing a monetization mechanic. I've sampled lots of things, never to return to them for a reason. If I only use an app once it is most likely because it wasn't useful or engaging enough in the first place or had some other irredeemable quality. Granted it is good practice to delete apps that you don't intend on using from your device but that is not a human behavior that comes naturally to most.
All said Google will nonetheless let app owners remind their audience that they do in fact have their app installed. It would be interesting to see how online marketers ultimately respond.
Moving along, Google announced new bulk action tools for AdWords. The idea might be that we shouldn't be dependent on external methods (like AdWords Editor) for general edits, even if they affect a large number of variables. This extends further to their announcement of Advanced Reporting, to discourage downloading data and manually manipulating it, and instead seeing all the information you need live inside AdWords.
I'm excited for these last two mostly because they are core, elegant and thoughtful improvements to the tools we use most often every day. Their addition should have immediate noticeable effect on one's day to day usage of AdWords.
Google's also expanding with experiments, where you can make changes to your campaigns and compare them side by side. This might become one of the most useful and used tools in AdWords. Why implement any changes immediately when you can sample what results you would gain from it beforehand? It has the potential to change online advertisers' penchant for acting on guesstimates and instead have every change be done in significant security about what it will cause to happen.
All in all while not revolutionary Google are continuing to update and improve AdWords whilst trying to stay ahead of the game.


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It's that time of year again – holiday shopping, sitting by the fireplace, and perhaps going out to your local Christmas Market. What's great about these markets is that you get the opportunity to see locally-made goods (which is rare at this day and age), whether it be ornaments, decorations, clothing, accessories, or even candy.
Though we are not anywhere near Europe geographically, we are lucky enough to have a little piece of another continent in Toronto once a year leading up to Christmas. This year, from November 20th until December 20th, you have the opportunity to visit the beautiful market in The Distillery District in Downtown Toronto.
This year, though, is different from the others. The Toronto Christmas Market is charging a fee of $5 per person for entry on Saturdays and Sundays. Many are finding this unfair to low-income families, or people who are accustomed to visiting the market in large groups every weekend. Do I really think it's unfair? No. The TO Xmas Market experienced high volumes in crowd on weekends in past years, and the fee is not only a way to control the crowds, but a way for our city to give to charity.
Don't want to pay the fee? No problem. The Market is open 12:00-9:00 Tues-Thurs, and until 10:00pm on Fridays. Mondays are a day off for all the hard-working people making the event possible (though The Distillery District remains open 7 days a week). You can find more official information here.
I went on a Wednesday morning, just at opening time. With my coffee and croissant in hand, I was able to sit outside at a small cafe table and watch all the little booths open up for the day. It was not too crowded, the sun was shining, and though I didn't get the opportunity to take in all the Christmas lighting in its full nighttime splendour, it was still a very rewarding outing. The Distillery District is a great place to shop for holiday gifts of all sorts, whether it be from their permanent shops, or the temporary holiday booths.
You are guaranteed to get into the holiday spirit if you even spend as little as 10 minutes inside the market. I will definitely be back again before they close for the season, presumably for an evening stroll after exams come to an end!
How To Ensure Your Visit Will Be More Than Perfect:
Parking: If you are not comfortable with parallel parking, be prepared to pay a price. When I went with a friend, I parked on the lot (I can't parallel) for $15, whereas she paid $6 on the street for 3 hours.
Figure out what you prefer: Do you want to see the lights at night shining bright? Or you prefer to avoid the crowds, get some gift-shopping done, and spend a peaceful afternoon in the sun with a cup of coffee? If you have a clear idea of what kind of market experience you'd like, and you plan your day and time accordingly, it'll definitely be more rewarding.
Make a budget and a plan: I hate this. I really do. I sometimes wish I could have all the money in the world so I could walk around and buy whatever I please. But normally, that's not the case. Decide whether you plan to buy gifts and holiday decorations, or just have a cup of coffee and a pastry, and then plan and budget keeping that in mind.
Hopefully you will have the opportunity to visit the Toronto Christmas Market this year, and will find it just as great as I did!
Have you been to the market yet?
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Poster of the Week has been on hiatus for a bit, but we had to bring it back when we saw this poster for Thurston Moore's show on Friday. Local artist Scott Spooner says he was inspired by the song "Blood Never Lies," from Moore's latest album, Demolished Thoughts:
"In my head, the song created this story about a scorned guy that kidnaps the girl who never cared about him. And everything else pretty much spawned from that."
Indeed, it looks very much like it could be a Sonic Youth album cover circa the late '90s/early Aughts, or the subject of one of their songs. And, if you take a look at SY's discography, you'll notice a theme: The covers of EVOL, Goo, Sonic Nurse and Murray Street all feature ladies or girls.
Catch Moore and former Charalambides singer-guitarist Christina Carter at the Texas Theatre on Friday night. Demolished Thoughts may be a quiet album, but there's always the possibility it might get loud in there.
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The NRS Tailwater Tackle Bag Review
How many "real world" features can you pack into one item? The Jackson Kayak Coosa sets the bar pretty high in regards to jamming enough features for 2 totally different fishing kayaks into 1 boat, and all for right around $1000. The NRS Tailwater Tackle Bag is very similar, in that it has enough features to make even the most serious of kayak fisherman (or even SUP'ing or rafting anglers) happy. The other thing that NRS is really good at, is building a high quality item, with impeccable customer service, for a very reasonable price…The Tailwater comes in at $129 and will not let you down.
You can see the Tailwater in action in this video for the NRS Reel fishing SUP.
- NRS staff member Luc Adams had a large role in designing this bag. Similar to Drew Gregory, who designed the Coosa, it is always good to have an expert in the field act as a consultant when designing technical equipment.
- The Tailwater has the same footprint as a milk crate and fits perfectly in the back of a Jackson Coosaor Native Manta Ray. In fact, those were 2 of the boats in mind when NRS (Luc) designed the bag.
- The removable inserts on the inside of the bag are very smart and well placed. You have the option of using 2 inserts, and creating compartmentalized sections, or taking 1 (or both) out, and having even more room. The flexible inserts themselves have clear pockets on them for maps, tippets, fly fishing leaders, a license, etc. There are velcro inserts on the tabs which makes them extremely easy to put in and take out.
- Copious amounts of room inside of the bag.
- There are 4 D rings on the bottom of the bag for rigging to a kayak or SUP. It also has a nice shoulder strap and velcro carry handle that can be used for carrying or for more rigging.
- The top of the bag has 2 attachments for pliers, a piece of Velcro for attaching even more accessories, and a ruler. The plier holders are within easy reach so you can grab them quickly with one hand.
- Lots of additional storage spots, many of which have drainage ports on the bottom. This is nice for dirty wet items like glove and rags. The storage sleeve on the back doubles as a paddle holder to be used with many of the kayaks out there that allow you to stand and fish.
- LARGE clear pocket on the front of the Tailwater. This is a perfect spot for your permit, a map, and fishing leaders…They are visible and within an arms reach at all times.
- ONE OF THE COOLEST FEATURES on the Tailwater is the way that the bag comes apart. There are Velcro openings along all 4 corners of the bag, allowing you to remove the Styrofoam and plastic liner, making the Tailwater a soft bag (instead of the rigid design). You can easily remove the rigid inserts and turn the bag into a packable item.
- Two Rod holders are placed at the hinge of the bag, making sure they're not in the way when opening the zipper.
- YKK heavy duty zippers will last a long time.
- PRICE. There are much less expensive tackle bags out there. When you go shopping for a one, be sure to check out the feature list. Chances are, if it is half the price, it will have half the features, or was built with half the quality and attention to detail.
- The Tailwater could be a little bit too large to fit on some SUP's. It is a great fit on a true fishing board like the NRS Reel.
The Verdict:
If you are looking for a do it all, one stop shop tackle bag, the NRS Tailwater is a solid option. I always say that you can never have too much storage on a fishing or paddling outing. The Tailwater provides adequate storage for all of your fishing equipment, and then some…Besides having a lot of cool features, it was designed by a kayak fishing expert, which means that it has an intelligent design, and lots of real world applications. We love selling NRS items here at CKS because they last a long time, are priced to sell, and most importantly are backed by NRS' world class, second to none customer service.
Enter to win a free Jackson Coosa Kayak fishing package worth $2000. This incredible package includes a NRS Tailwater!


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UK borrowing falls more than expected, Hammond being forced to pay out
German prosecutors drop probe of ex-Morgan Stanley banker
STUTTGART Germany (Reuters) – German prosecutors dropped a two-year investigation into possible breach of trust by a former regional politician and an ex-Morgan Stanley (MS.N) banker over a state's purchase of a stake worth 4.7 billion euros ($6 billion) in utility EnBW (EBKG.DE).
"It was not possible to demonstrate culpable behavior by the suspects," Stuttgart public prosecutors' office said in a statement on Wednesday.
In late 2010, the then premier of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Stefan Mappus, hammered out the deal within weeks for the state to buy a 45 percent stake in EnBW from French energy company EDF (EDF.PA).
The head of Morgan Stanley's German unit and one of the country's top bankers, Dirk Notheis, advised Mappus on the acquisition. An independent adviser working for the prosecutors later said the state had overpaid by some 780 million euros.
German newspapers later published emails which they said were sent by Notheis to Mappus, in which Notheis casually referred to Chancellor Angela Merkel as "Mutti" – German for "mummy" – and sometimes appeared to be giving orders to Mappus.
The emails, which could not be independently verified by Reuters, unleashed a wave of criticism in Germany by appearing to highlight the cozy relationship between bankers and politicians at a time when many Germans were up in arms about the role banks played in the global financial crisis.
Both men denied any wrongdoing and said any allegations of breach of trust were baseless.
Stuttgart prosecutors said the case for the breach of trust accusation rested largely on differing assumptions about the value of the stake made by independent experts and could not form the basis for a prosecution.


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I am thrilled to announce that the board of the Decorative Furnishings Association (DFA) has elected me to serve as the next President of the organization! I am honored to have the opportunity to offer my leadership skills to this esteemed group of design professionals. Editor at Large interviewed me for their Article announcing the news. Check out the transcript below!
What are your goals as president? What do you plan to do differently, and what will continue as is?
My goal as DFA president is simple: to continue the mission of growing and sustaining the professional interior design industry. However, our strategy to accomplish this will change a bit as we evolve into a widely inclusive voice of the industry: the marketplace, the media and the design community, all uniting to speak to consumers about how their lives can be enhanced by design. We will shift our primary focus from industry education to consumer outreach. We will continue to educate trade vendors on best practices, but we also will be leading an industry-wide effort to galvanize the perception of professional design in the eyes of consumers who can afford these services but choose not to because of various misconceptions about the industry.
Additionally, we will have an increased focus on trade organization partnerships. There are so many passionate groups who all have the same goal. I want to make sure the DFA's approach is unique, so that we can better coordinate our resources with others to cover more ground.
As a millennial, how is your perception of the industry unique? How will digital strategies be a part of your plan?
I was fortunate to have grown up in a professionally designed home, so I've always understood how beautiful and functional design can positively impact one's life. However, many of my peers were not as lucky. I find myself in many conversations trying to convince these peers who can now afford design services that they should hire a designer, but I'm met with skepticism and doubt because millennials perceive interior design as unattainable, too expensive, and as a mysterious and laborious process.
Most services in today's world are very straightforward—they are transparent about pricing and easy to understand. Professional interior designers all have different pricing models, and the industry was built on exclusivity. This approach and diversity is now hurting the outsider's industry perception, because millennials think secrecy is not trustworthy. The negative perception is perpetuated by a lack of clear and consistent communication about the value of design through the content channels millennials consume daily, which is why digital strategies will be a major focus of the DFA's efforts moving forward.
What are the greatest assets of the DFA?
The DFA members are our strongest assets. We represent a knowledge and experience base that is as high or higher than any other trade organization in the industry. Additionally, because all of the members are principals of their respective firms, we benefit from the expertise of the industry's leading decision makers.
Do you plan additional programs or outreach? Whom will you target?
Our main focuses will be launching an industry-wide effort that unites all members of the trade—designers and vendors—with a unified message to increase the number of interior design projects by inspiring, informing and engaging consumers. The DFA will be backing an online resource center and advertising campaign—similar to the dairy industry's "Got milk?" campaign—for the interior design community to promote the use of interior designers. We will be targeting consumers who have the means to afford these services but don't engage them for any number of reasons. This initiative will have a digital-first approach, and we will be exploring different fund-raising platforms, likeKickstarter, to crowdsource support. To stay in the loop with our efforts, please enter your e-mail address here.


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Wandering But Not Lost Podcast | Real Estate Coaching & Wandering Zen
Real Estate and Reality meet as co-hosts, Jan O'Brien and Matt Emerson bring you Tips, Tools, & Topics to supercharge your business. They'll share their insights along with interviews with industry thought leaders. The ethos of WBNL Coaching is helping you to align and connect so that you can prosper. The Wandering Zen segment will offer you some inspiration so that you can disconnect and recharge.


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As the second most-visited tourist attraction in the state of Hawaii, the Dole Plantation attracts scads of people every single day. We set aside a morning to visit this Hawaii staple and enjoyed a day of absolutely gorgeous weather. The plantation is located near Wahiawa in the central part of the island of Oahu. This section of the island is nice and breezy and the air feels cooler than in Honolulu despite it not being directly on the coast.
It took me longer than I care to admit to notice that the flora in front of the main building spelled out "DOLE". Okay fine, full confession, I didn't notice until weeks after our trip when I sat down to cull through the photos. Sometimes I'm hyper-observant of my surroundings and other times I'm totally oblivious. This was one of those times.
There's no charge to explore the gift shop, restaurant, main grounds and patio area of the plantation. If you just want to pop in for a quick visit, it's really simple to park right outside and walk right in!
There are lovely gardens in the "free" areas with bench seating. Outside of the gift shop and restaurant there is an abundance of tables with umbrellas or under the porch.
We spotted several peacocks prancing around on the sidewalks.
Baby red pineapples were everywhere. Aren't they cute?
We saw this man demonstrating some woodworking skills in the shade of the gift shop building.
The gift shop itself is impressive. Typically, we don't spend much time in touristy souvenir shops, but this one is huge, this picture doesn't do any justice to its size, and has a little of everything. There's tons of local food products (with lots of pineapple-flavored stuff, of course), jewelry, bath and body products, home decor, accessories, clothing, basic souvenirs, and so much more.
Our baby fell asleep in his Ergo carrier and because we needed him to have a good nap we spent a good bit of time browsing the shop and ended up having a surprising amount of fun. We collect magnets and, sometimes, Christmas ornaments from the places we visit and we were able to find both of those things here. Our ornament was personalized with all three of our names and the date. It will be a treasure in the future.
This is a stock photo of the ornament, since I've already packed away the one we purchased. The company that sells and personalizes these is called Santa's Pen. We had each of our names written on the stockings, 'Our Hawaiian Vacation' written across the bottom, '2015' on the sunshine, and "Mele Kalikimaka" on the surfboard.
Jasper will never remember that he traveled to Hawaii at such a young age, but we can't wait to show him the photos and tell him stories about his first big vacation when he gets older!
There was a lady who looks up the Hawaiian version of your name and burns it onto leather bracelets. Maluhia is my Hawaiian name. The bracelet is braided on the other side and it's such a fun souvenir. I love it!
If you're hungry, the Plantation Grille, located in the same building as the gift shop, serves up a full menu as well as desserts. If you come to Dole Plantation you absolutely have to try a Dole Whip. It's likely that you've had this delicious treat at Disney World or Disneyland, but it was really fun to try one right from the source, so to speak. Dole Whip is pineapple-flavored soft serve and it is served many different ways – in a cup, in a cone, with cherry or pineapple topping, or floating in a glass of fresh pineapple juice.
When doing research for our trip I read a tip to order it topped with li hing mui powder, which is a really tart "spice" that is insanely popular in Hawaii. It's made from dried plums and its flavor is strong! It's a mixture of sweet, salty, and sour all mixed in together. It's known as an acquired taste, but we both loved it and thought it paired well with the pineapple. My only gripe is that the folks at the grille were a little heavy-handed with the powder. A little goes a long way!
One of the "pay to play" attractions is the Plantation Garden Tour. Tickets are $5.00 per adult and $4.25 for children ages 4-12. Children under 4 are free.
The tour is self-guided and you are given an "audio wand" that you can use at specified hot spots in the gardens to hear additional information about the plants and how they are used.
Photo dump incoming…
These are some of the largest Koi we have ever seen. They must be used to being hand fed because as I got close enough to take a photo they all gathered around opened their mouths up wide.
The most popular attraction at the plantation is the 20-minute train ride aboard the Pineapple Express. Tickets are $8.50 per adult and $6.50 for children ages 4-12. Children under 4 are free.
The train ride takes you through two miles of plantation scenery while a recorded voice narrates the history of Dole and provides information about many tropical fruits and plants.
I've been a blogger for a long, long time, even before the first iteration of Brownie Bites back in 2006. In the late 90's and early 2000's Matt and I both blogged at a site called Open Diary and I still correspond with many of the blogger friendships that I made in that community. We met up with one such friend, Kaye, and her three kiddos. It was so great to finally meet them in person!
Jasper experienced so many firsts on this trip… even his first train ride!
I can't even with this goofy kid. His facial expressions crack me up.
The tour provided information about harvesting processes and there was some equipment on display.
We took in some pretty scenery of Central Oahu.
Unfortunately, the fields themselves were relatively barren and so much of the train ride exhibited bare fields full of "Hawaiian red dirt", named because of the presence of iron oxides in the soil.
It's crazy to think that when Kaye and I first started corresponding, none of these kiddos existed!
The Pineapple Garden Maze is the third paid attraction at the plantation – $6.00 for adults and $4.00 for children ages 4-12. It is the world's largest maze created from 14,000 Hawaiian plants.
We skipped actually going inside of the maze since the sun was crawling higher in the sky and it was getting a hot for Jasper to spend too much time in the open sunshine.
Overall, our visit to Dole made for a pleasant half day and if you're planning on trekking to the Central Valley or up to the North Shore, it is at least worth a stop to browse the courtyard, shop at the gift shop, and try a Dole Whip.
Visit their website for more info: www.dole-plantation.com


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Square Enx have released a trailer for the Hitman: HD Trilogy compilation, which compiles three games—Hitman Contracts, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and Hitman Blood Money—with HD re-mastered visuals. Take a look at them below:
Hitman: HD Trilogy will be released in North America on January 29th and in Europe on February 1st. A limited edition of the compilation will be available as well, which you can check out here.


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It's Monday again and you know what that means…
Got to be to work by nine
And if I had an air-o-plane
I still couldn't make it on time
Just another Manic Monday…
Is there something you've dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven't you done it? Yup, and it's to lose weight. And I really don't know why…but I.need.to.do.it.
If you could make any fictional character come to life, which one would it be? Hmmm…so many of my favorite fictional characters HAVE come to life…Bilbo was amazing! I really can't think of one that hasn't, isn't that bad?
If you could have a $10,000 shopping spree to one store, which store would it be and how long would it take you to spend the $10,000? Something like Lowe's or the equivalent…I'd get me a contractor to fix up the house and just like that, $10,000 would be gone!
Name three things you wanted as a child but never got. 1. An easy bake oven; 2. More siblings; 3. a horse.
Lisa is hosting this week's Fun Monday challenge: "What is one thing you would like to ask your readers? Come up with a question to pose to your visitors and throw it out there on Monday. As we're all visiting each other's Fun Monday posts we should answer the various questions we come across."
Here's my question to you readers: What one word would you use to describe the person who writes this blog?
Posted in Fun Monday, Manic Monday | 30 Comments


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Listening is such an important skill when it comes to making sure we are making the best matches between clients and candidates. Actively listening to clients improves mutual understanding of their needs and, likewise, helps us best understand what our candidates are looking for in a new role.
Yesterday, we conducted an exercise focused on this skill set– where one consultant was tasked with drawing an object (without looking) based on listening to the description from a colleague. This helps make listening more practical, highlighting the need to ask clarifying questions in order to improve outcomes and to fully understand the other person's vision.
If you're looking to fill a role in your company, or if you're on the hunt for a new career, we're here to listen to you. Contact us today.


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We recently had the opportunity to work with our new friends at CURE International on this video. Take a minute to check it out… It's a powerful representation of the heart of CURE.
The Found Hope from CURE Video on Vimeo.
"We picked up our mats." So so powerful…
Be the first to comment!


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BARC: The Data Management Survey 2020
The Data Is In: The 2020 Snowflake Customer Experience Report
2020 Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Study Of Snowflake
Dresner Advisory Services: 2020 Analytical Data Infrastructure Market Study
TDWI: Why the Data-Driven Marketer Needs a Cloud Data Warehouse
This TDWI Insight Accelerator focuses on the benefits, challenges, and recommendations for adopting a cloud data warehouse to enable data-driven marketing.
The Data is In: The 2019 Snowflake Customer Experience Report
To evaluate their progress, Snowflake recently launched a dedicated Customer Experience (CX) initiative to ensure that customer experiences are driving their business strategy and feedback is leverage
Forrester 2018 Total Economic Impact study of Snowflake Data Warehouse as a Service
The Total Economic Impact™ Of Snowflake Data Warehouse-As-A-Service, a June 2018 commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Snowflake.
Snowtrail: Testing with Production Queries on a Cloud Database
This paper presents Snowtrail, an infrastructure developed within Snowflake for testing using customer production queries with result obfuscation.
Dresner Advisory Services: 2019 Analytical Data Infrastructure Market Study
Snowflake has ranked highly among the data warehouse vendors in the quadrants of the 2018 Analytical Data Infrastructure Market Study. The study, which offers ratings of analytical data infrastructure
Moving the Enterprise Analytical Database – A Guide For Enterprises: Strategies And Options To Modernizing Data Architecture and the Data Wa
This paper will help an organization understand the value of modernizing its data architecture and how to frame a modernization effort that delivers analysis capabilities, diverse yet connected data,
ROI Case Study: iovation Deploys Snowflake's Cloud Data Warehouse
Iovation deployed Snowflake's cloud data warehouse to accelerate their product development, improve analytic query efficiency, and enhance understanding of company data.
SIGMOD Paper: The Snowflake Elastic Data Warehouse
The Snowflake Elastic Data Warehouse: Special Interest Group on Management of Data by Snowflake founders Thierry, Benoit and team.
Overcoming the Reality Gap of Big Data
Data warehouse as a service brings scalability and flexibility to organizations seeking to deliver data to all users and systems that need to analyze it.
Data Analytics: Beyond the Hype - A Survey by Dimensional Research
From cutting edge technology services to venerable enterprises that have been in the same industry for generations, businesses are looking to their data to find ways to reduce costs and grow revenues.
TDWI Checklist Report: Using and Choosing a Cloud Solution for Data Warehousing
This checklist identifies the benefits the cloud offers, offers potential use cases, and presents key criteria for using and choosing a cloud solution for data warehousing.
TDWI Best Practices Report: Emerging Technologies for Business Intelligence, Analytics and Data Warehousing
This report educates organizations worldwide about the inventory of currently available emerging technologies and methods (ETMs) as they apply directly to business intelligence (BI), analytics, and da
TDWI Best Practices Report: BI, Analytics and Cloud Strategies
This report educates organizations in best practices and options for cloud business intelligence (BI) and analytics. This includes organizational strategies for the cloud as well as new platform optio
TDWI Best Practices Report: Data Science and Big Data: Enterprise Paths to Success
Big data and data science can provide a significant path to value for organizations. These technologies, methodologies and skills can help organizations gain additional insight about customers and ops
Gigaom Sector Roadmap: Cloud Analytic Databases 2017
The cloud is proving immensely useful to providing elastic, measurable, on-demand, self-service resources to organizations. The uptake in 2016 has been phenomenal, continuing the biggest transformatio
Forrester's Breakout Vendors: Big Data Integration
Looker Data Sciences, SnapLogic, And Snowflake Computing Push The Boundaries Of Established Big Data Integration – Authored by Brian Hopkins, VP and Principal Analyst, serving Enterprise Architecture
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Berry Tea Latte
A lovely combination of Berry and tea, will ensure you enjoy this treat! Suggested by one of our tea artisans, this new creation will be out before this Valentines! Drop in to try it.
A line of new retail item will be out in the next few weeks, introducing our Standard 36 Black Tea, in a individually wrapped pyramid tea bag, so you can enjoy the perfect cup of tea at home.
We will also be releasing a new travel pack, with 10 individually wrapped Pyramid Tea bags, this will guarantee freshness and also the steps included will help you make the perfect cup away from home.
Our snap chat promotions and advertising has been very successful, and we have been giving away goodies on snapchat for our customers. Each time we have a promo we notice a surge in additions.
Snapchat Marketing and Promotions
As part of our promotions to give our customer offers, as well as updates we started our snapchat campaign. Basically we will be snapping offers, and updates regarding Tea Avenue. If we send an offer, we want the users to screen shot the image in the limited time (better the offer is, the less time you will get! ) and they will be able to redeem the offer at our outlet. So far we have given away free waffles!
Stay tuned for more updates!
Sajeev De Silva
February 2017


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Travel Lady Cruises
Tips, Stories & Adventures of Travel especially Cruising. blog.TravelLadyCruises.com & www.TravelLadyCruises.com
Posted by csjones. No Comments
Tags: going to Ireland , Ireland , irish , irish blessings , irish poems , irish sayings , St Paddy's , St. Paddy's Day , St. Patrick's Day , traveling to Ireland , visiting Ireland
Ocean Mist 2.0 theme is available from TenByTwenty.com | Designed by Ed Merritt 4X.WP.OM.20.EM Travel Lady Cruises is powered by WordPress | Photo by rexfarucao


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Black Sheep Restaurants
Exclusive privileges with one of Hong Kong's most dynamic hospitality groups
Black Sheep Restaurants curates distinct dining experiences that tell a story about a particular time, place, culture or cuisine. Its diverse portfolio includes BELON and New Punjab Club, which were both awarded one star in the Michelin Guide Hong Kong 2019.
The group has 23 restaurants in Hong Kong – Artemis & Apollo, Associazione Chianti, BELON, Buenos Aires Polo Club, Burger Circus, Carbone Hong Kong, Chôm Chôm, Fukuro, Ho Lee Fook, Hotal Colombo, La Vache! (SoHo and Tsim Sha Tsui), Le Garçon Saigon, Le Petit Saigon, Maison Libanaise, Motorino (SoHo and Wan Chai), New Punjab Club, Osteria Marzia, Rajasthan Rifles, Soul Food Thai, Stazione Novella and Taqueria Super Macho. It has also expanded to Shanghai with the opening of Canton Disco.
Visit Black Sheep Restaurants, Link opens in a new window operated by external parties and may not conform to the same accessibility policies as Cathay Pacific or contact the team directly for more details.
Diamond members
Enjoy unparalleled dining experiences with the exclusive year-round benefits below.
Dining privileges
- Members may contact the Guest Relations Manager from 10am to 10pm daily for dining arrangements.
- For restaurants that accept reservations.
- Black Sheep Restaurants will endeavour to make arrangements according to members' preferred date and time for their reservation and provide the best possible alternatives if the original request cannot be met.
- For restaurants that are walk-in or only accept reservations for large parties.
- Members will have their name added to the waitlist prior to arrival to minimise the wait time. Once their entire party has arrived, the team will seat guests on the next available table.
- Seating time is not guaranteed and is subject to availability at all times. During the popular mid-evening time, a prolonged wait may still be required.
- Black Sheep Restaurants will endeavour to make arrangements according to members' preferred date and time and provide the best possible alternatives if the original request cannot be met.
- Applicable to La Vache! (SoHo and Tsim Sha Tsui), Osteria Marzia, Buenos Aires Polo Club and Carbone Hong Kong.
- Members can enjoy this benefit by making their lunch reservation through the dedicated email address.
- Same-day lunch reservations must be made before 11am to enjoy this benefit.
What you need to do:
- Book through the dedicated email address and provide your name and membership number with your request. Any same-day request must be made before 5pm.
- Present your membership card on arrival for validation.
- Valid for Diamond members. Diamond membership status must be valid at the time of restaurant reservation and dining.
- Members must provide their full name and membership number in their email to the Guest Relations Manager and present their membership card upon arrival.
- Priority Reservations and Priority Waitlist are not guaranteed and subject to availability at all times.
- Same-day requests for Priority Reservations or Priority Waitlist must be made before 5pm for dinner, or before 11am to enjoy the complimentary wine offer at selected restaurants for lunch.


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Injection Moulding Company For Sale-Outdoor Macro Photography Accessories
South China professional custom manufacturer of injection molded parts. Polypropylene, ABS, acetal, acrylic, copolymer Polypropylene, HDPE/LDPE, nylon, polycarbonate, polyester, polystyrene, thermoplastic and thermoset plastics used. Additional services include assembly, packaging, inventory management, designing and product development. Consumer products, electronics, smart home ,medical, automotive , industrial, sporting goods and food industries served.
Service Progress
1Sample/Drawing ,We need your detail require clearly.
2Negotiation Material, cavity, price, delivery time, payment term ,etc.
3Place order, According your own design or choose our design.
4Mould design, We will communicate & exchange the opinion with you during making drawing.
5Tooling mould, After customers approve the mould design will start making mould.
6Mould process, Provide photos for customer show them tooling process.
7Mold testingMold testing
8Sample confirm , Send the samples to for customer's confirmation and modify mold if unsatisfy .
9Delivery mould , Qualified samples after, arrange the shipment.
You have the idea, we turn it into products!


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UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Friday condemned a shooting at two mosques in New Zealand that killed 49 people as "heinous and cowardly" and said acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable.
"The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security," the 15-member council said in a statement, proposed by Kuwait and Indonesia. The council stood to observe a moment's silence for the victims on Friday.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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Writer's Desk 1000-Piece Puzzle
- Challenging 1000 pieces
- Size: 75*50cm
- Apply to ages from 8-99 (Parents should accompany kids under 8 years old)
- A great choice for family collaboration and friends parties!
- The puzzle greyboard contains 90% recycled paper. Packaging contains 70% recycled paper. Printed with nontoxic inks.
- All PlusSizeShirt products adhere to CPSIA, ASTM, and CE Safety Regulations
Like This
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1. How many pieces of Mnahome puzzles are?
Mnahome puzzles are mainly 1000 pieces. We also have a small amount of 500 piece puzzles and 60 piece puzzles. (Search with keywords "500 piece" and "60 piece")
If you need other quantities for customization, you can contact our email (firstname.lastname@example.com) or leave us a message.
2. How can I check out?
We accept PayPal payments and Credit Card payments.
If there's no checkout button shows at the cart page, please refresh the page. We are fixing this bug.
3. What if the placed order does not show the correct products?
Please contact us at email (email@example.com) or leave us a message. As long as the products have not been shipped, we'll add a note to your order & send you the correct products.
4. Worldwide shipping ✈
Due to the worldwide current events, most orders are taking more time than usual. We are collaborating faster logistics companies and try our best to get products delivered within 30 days.
【Source of Raw Materials-Old Newspaper】If all the 3 million tons of newsprint are recycled and reused, 2.4 million tons of good paper can be created, which is equivalent to cutting down 51 million large trees and saving 900,000 cubic meters. Landfill space, and can also save 40-50% of the energy consumption of papermaking.
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Mom to Son - You Will Never Lose Basketball


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Collage photo from http://www.teambeerhockey.com
Early this week, Leif and I were stunned to get an email from our old hockey team in San Jose, Team Beer mentioning that captain Kelly Calabro had died. Details were sparse (and still are), but he collapsed on the ice, and even after CPR and defibrillator attempts, he couldn't be revived. We weren't able to fly back to San Jose on such short notice with Peter, but we've been thinking a lot about this even this week, and were bummed to miss the memorial service last night. We were able to attend the Celebration of Life event tonight using a Skype video/audio link (thanks to Thad for setting that up for us). It was really cool to not only see all the old and new Beer members who attended, but also other hockey players who had never even met Kelly (other than running into him on the rink).
What was weird too was that the same night, at the same rink, just a few hours before, another guy, Brian Kobata, had died as well. :( Here's the Mercury News article: http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_11770229
Yesterday we went to Old Chicago for lunch, and while I don't drink Guinness, we both toasted a beer in his name (his team beer name was Guinness).
Thad wanted us to say a few words tonight, and while I did try to write something this afternoon, I ended up not really using it and just speaking from the heart. This is what I was going to say:
"Kelly always said "once a Beer, always a Beer", and anybody who's ever spent anytime on the Beer team can attest to how true that statement is. Leif and I have played on a bunch of hockey teams, but Beer is the one that we not only remember the most, but remember the most fondly. Kelly embodied the Beer spirit - loyalty, friendship, a sense of humor, and fun. It didn't matter if we won all of the games, or none of the games - he'd shrug and say "anybody for a beer after the game?" and it was all good. He was the biggest on the team, and I was the smallest, and you bet I was happy he was on my side. I loved being out with him because he was like a wall - easily moving the other team out of the crease - you felt a certain level of comfort having him around. Although he was quiet, he welcomed anybody and everybody into the Beer family with open arms. Once after we won the season at Rollin Ice, we all went out for pizza and beer. Leif's family from Sweden was in town, and Kelly not only insisted they come along, but also attempted to make conversation with them (even though they didn't speak English very well). That was the kind of person he was.
From Denver, Colorado, we raise a Guinness in honor of Kelly, wherever he may be now."
In the team photo, he's the furthest to the left in the back row.
Guinness, we'll miss you.
I think this picture says it all, from one Avalanche fan, to everybody else, how the season is going:
Photo from nhl.com websiteToday feels like Sunday, even though it's a Tuesday. After attending a New Year's Eve party last night given by one of our neighbors (best part: we didn't have to drive anyplace), we woke up late this morning (well, woke up early, fed/took out the dogs, then went back to sleep), and spent part of the day watching the NHL Winter Classic between the Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Really fun game to watch, even though they had to clean/repair the ice a lot, but I guess that's what happens when you put a hockey rink on top of a football field. The game was perfect too since it was tied 1-1 at the end of regulation, nobody scored in overtime, and Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal during the shootout. For a game like this, it was cool it was so evenly matched honestly, because a blowout wouldn't have been much fun.
I know I'm an Avalanche fan, but I still have a thing for Henrik and Daniel Sedin of Vancouver. It's not just the fact that they're Swedish, but they're twins! (yes people, there can be male Swedish twins too). It's a lot of fun to watch them play on the ice because they just can completely anticipate what each other is doing. I almost feel bad for the center who plays with them, unless it's Markus Naslund because he's Swedish too. Not only are they identical, but they grew identical goatees, just to make it difficult to tell them apart.
Between periods of the game today, Altitude did a little profile on the Sedin twins because of their nhl.com commercial. I was wondering if they ever switched jerseys or anything dumb like that because they were twins. Henrik told a story about one time when he was kicked out of the face off circle, skated over to where Daniel was.....and just skated back. The referee didn't bother to look at the jersey numbers, so he ended up taking the face off anyways. Good story. :)
Yeah yeah, cheesy headline.
We just finished watching the NHL Awards show aired on OLN.
The big MVP award (Hart trophy) goes to...JOE THORNTON OF THE SHARKS!!
A good story on this on the Sharks website.
At the Sharks game on Monday (which the Sharks won 2-1!) against Edmonton, there was a point in the 2nd period where Edmonton got a 2-man advantage for about 1:40. To top that off, partway through the Sharks penalty kill, 2 of their sticks broke....and they couldn't get off the ice. So you have 1 Shark out there with a stick, 2 without sticks, and 5 Edmonton players. Needless to say, EDMONTON DIDN'T SCORE. Toskala had some great saves, and with 20 seconds left in the penalty, Hannan blocked a shot with his body, dove for the puck, and pushed it out of the zone. Probably the most unbelievable and coolest thing I've ever seen in hockey before.
The SJ Sharks posted the video to their website, but of course it only works in Windows, so some kind soul uploaded it to YouTube, which you can see below.
We all filtered back into the locker room, not really nervous per se, but a little excited I guess. All of us kind of stood in awe at the cool authentic Sharks jerseys that we had received (me too, even though I had seen them earlier). Someone pointed out that the jersey had a fight strap on it.
We looked, and sure enough at the back of the jersey on the bottom was a strap that was supposed to slip through a loop in your girdle, and then snapped back up. Hence, the fight strap. We had gotten beat pretty hard in the 3 on 3 scrimmage in the morning, so people on our team just didn't want to lose. I still had the "this is damn cool" feeling while I was putting on my gear (which had dried a little bit so it wasn't too wet and definitely wasn't cold). At around 1:10, we realized it was time to go, so we headed out of the locker room. Since we were going through the sharks head, we had to walk all the way around the arena with our plastic skateguards on (what sucked is that if we were considered "late", they let those people just skate across the rink. Oh well), where we waited for the game to start. Everyone (of course) was taller than me as I tried to look around at the seats to see if I saw anyone I knew. I managed to glimpse Brett, but couldn't see Bryan, Brian, or Debbie. There didn't look to be a lot of people there which was ok, I just thought it was cool that there was at least 1 person I knew. Leif said Sharkie was on the ice in a refs uniform, but I couldn't see that.
Around 1:20, the quiet music playing in the arena stopped, and they started the loud music, announcing the game was about to begin, and we skated through the Shark. We dropped our stuff off on the bench, then skated around for a quick warmup. There weren't any pucks, so we all just skated. The refs finally blew their whistle, and each team hit their bench. It was pretty much a pickup game. There were no set lines – the only thing we determined was which door the offense would go out, and which door the defense would go out (and we switched every period when the goalies changed sides). I think the entire game I never really played with the same people twice. I played with Leif only a few times, and played with the alums several times.
I noticed Bryan, and Brian and his wife in the audience snapping pictures away. The final total for photos came to something like Bryan: 403, and Brian: 926, so I now have a ton of photos of the game.
The one main thing I noticed about the game, and honestly I didn't think about until afterwards, was how fast everything was. I'm not just talking about time-wise because I was having fun, I'm talking about everything about the game. It was a much faster game than I was used to. You virtually had very little time to do anything with the puck when you got it, and everyone was skating much faster. I had a few problems since I can't skate as fast as everyone – I wanted to, but I have short legs, but I think overall I did ok. I only got a couple of crappy shots off, and Leif had a few really good ones but neither of us scored. They did read my name for an assist once...when I was on the bench, and I figured out that David Maley was wearing the same number as I was, so they meant him, but read me.
The one thing I did manage to capitalize on, was my good passing. I really really like setting up the other players, and for some reason passing has always been one of my strong suits. Once I realized I should just concentrate on that, instead of skating up a lot, I did, and it worked. I passed several times to Jeff Norton, Gary Suter, and other people on our time. Several of them had clear shots to the goal after my pass, but of course no one scored. :) Norton was particularly good at calling for the pass. He'd yell "here" and all I had to do was glance up quickly to see where his stick was and let the pass go.
I went up against several of the alumni too, which was really weird. For the most part they were definitely playing down to our level (well not to mine, but down to the level of some of the better people there who weren't ex-NHL players), but every once in awhile they'd surge, and not go all-out, but they'd kick it up a notch.
One time Bernie Nicholls was behind the net, and I was the closest to him, so I figured even though I didn't want to, I'd have to go and challenge him just to make him to something. So I start skating back there, and he starts moving the puck extremely fast back and forth. At that point I realized I was really screwed, and I was right. :) One fast-ass move around me was all it took.
I did get some good stuff in though besides the passing. I came up behind Jeff Odgers once and managed to lift his stick from behind and take the puck away.
Another time I came out from the bench and had to play center and take the faceoff....against Jamie Baker (or Bernie Nicholls, one of the two). Before the ref dropped the puck he said, "don't worry, I'll hold his stick for you," and grabbed the stick so I could get a clean faceoff.
The only penalties that were called were against the alumns. Ron Stern got like 3 penalties. :)
The game was 3 20 minute periods of run time, which I thought at the beginning wasn't going to be too much, but with the speed of the game, and the size of the rink, all of us were taking extremely short shifts (longest was a minute, most were like 45 seconds, some were 30), and that timeframe was definitely fine. I was completely exhausted by the end. There were a few times when the refs called out, "only alumni on the ice," and they stopped the clock so the alumni could play against each other for a few minutes. At those times, the game went up about 20 notches as they really could go all out. The only non-alums out there were the goalies, who must have loved it since they got to stop the shots of ex-NHL players.
We ended up losing 10-9, but it was extremely close the entire game. We'd be up, then they'd tie it, then they'd be up, and we'd tie it. I'm glad the teams were pretty evenly matched – apparently last time they did the fantasy camp the final score of the game was 12-4. It honestly didn't matter though that we lost, all of us had a ton of fun. Everyone shook hands after the game, then we all lined up for our respective team photographs, and one big group photo.
As we walked off the ice, Bryan, Brian, and Brett were able to come down to the edge of the stands and we could all talk for a few minutes. For Brian this was especially cool since he's a big Sharks fan, and could appreciate and enjoy the alumni playing. For the other 2, they said they had fun watching the game, even though they're not horrendously big hockey fans. I was extremely appreciative that they showed up at all honestly, and I felt really good that they did.
The guy from Shark Byte was there asking people to do postgame interviews, so I did one. :)
Going back into the locker room, I felt pretty good. I felt I did the best I could under the circumstances. All the skating-type stuff was done, all that was left was a reception at Tres Gringos, a Mexican place in San Jose, and the actual Sharks vs. Coyotes game. We all showered and changed, talking about how cool it was to play with the alumni, and asked the alumni if they thought it was cool to play on the alumni lines. Each of them really enjoyed it since several live outside the area, and weren't able to get back as often as they wished. Jeff Norton started being funny complaining about how the ice wasn't smoothed over between periods like he's used to. We all laughed and said, "welcome to the real world, this is how normal people have to play."
Even though the reception wasn't supposed to start until 4:30, and it was 3:30, we all decided to head over anyways. Apparently there was some miscommunication, and they had no idea we were coming, but said they'd be ready "in about 10 minutes", so we went next door to the San Jose Bar and Grill to hang out. We found a few people from our team – someone had started a bar tab (not sure who, someone from the fantasy camp), so Leif and I both ordered a beer. I swear, there's nothing like an ice cold Corona after a hockey game (ok, maybe a large ice-filled glass of water). We mingled with everyone for awhile, people kept going over to check to see if the Tres Gringos was ready (which it wasn't). At one point we got in a conversation with Jeff Odgers, one of the alumni. This guy still leads the team in most penalty minutes (1001), and you can seriously see all the scars on his face. I asked him how many fights he'd gotten in in his whole NHL career, and he said he wasn't sure, but something over 210.
The funny thing about all these alums is that so many of them are coaching their kid's ice teams. I guess I'm not surprised about that. A lot of them flew in just for this event. Odgers for example is living in Canada somewhere (Saskachuan I think). It's a tiny town where he's living and he lives on a farm.
The Mexican place opened for us, so we all wandered over, ordered some margaritas and some food. The guy in charge of the community foundation events for the Sharks was there and he ordered a bunch of appetizers for everyone and some beer. We were really hungry though, so the table Leif and I sat at all ordered burritos and quesadillas as well. Leif, the man who said beforehand he wouldn't have done this if I didn't want to, turned to me and said, "let's make sure to do this again next year."
People mingled around for awhile, and at about 6:15, we decided to drive back to the HP Pavilion so we could get our good parking spots – we all had parking passes for the day to park in the main lot, and we didn't want it to fill up before the game. Leif and I wandered around the Pavilion a bit, we got a good picture of me and Sharkie, and then we finally decided to head up to the penthouse terrace suite which had been reserved for use by all the fantasy camp participants. In order to get up there we had to take an elevator and walk around quite a bit. There was round tables with bar stools set up, food, beer, soda, water, and of course you could see the ice. We were in the corner behind the away team net, as far up as you could get. It honestly wasn't horrible, but not as good as our seats. :)
By that point, everyone was pretty tired from the whole day, so people just kind of grabbed some food and sat down to watch the game. In addition to having the terrace suite, we also had the 2 rows of seats directly below us. Honestly, you didn't need to take the elevator up there once you knew what section the suite was in, since you could just walk all the way down to the section entrance. I did that between periods when I went to say hi to Brian. His seats of course were all the way across from where we were sitting, so I couldn't talk long, but that was ok. He said he had a lot of fun watching our game, and is glad he was able to make it.
The game was an extremely good game. Phoenix is always one of those teams that the Sharks has trouble beating, and this day was no exception.. The Sharks weren't shooting well or playing well, and going into the 3rd period it looked bleak as they were down 3 goals. Somehow though they managed to pull it together to tie the game, and at least get 1 point in the standings, forcing the game into overtime. Alas, it wasn't to be. the Sharks lost the game with 6 seconds left on a Coyote power play.
At that point I was so completely exhausted I was ready to go home, and didn't care who won the game or not. I hadn't taken my contacts out for some reason so the entire game my left eye was bugging me (even eyedrops weren't helping), and I was ready to go to sleep.
Leif and I drove home that night, barely managed to take our wet, stinky hockey gear out of the car, and crashed hard, sleeping for 12 hours.
This event was simply amazing, there's no other way to describe it. It's now a week later since I first started writing this, and I've calmed down and life is back to normal. Going back to work on Monday was very difficult. I felt like I had just gone on the absolute best vacation of my life, and now had go back to the real world where I was just "me." However even though for the first few days I was feeling like that, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. The thing that I most learned from that day was that yes, I *can* play with the big boys. :)
This being the day after the fantasy camp, I'm still completely exhausted as I'm writing this down, but wanted to get my thoughts down while they're still fresh.
Yesterday on April 1, 2006, Leif and I participated in the Sharks-for-a-day fantasy camp where you literally get to experience what it's like to be a San Jose Shark for a day. The day started at 7:15am, and we didn't get home until about 10:30pm, so it was extremely long.
6:30am on Saturday morning, we get up, get ready, eat a little breakfast (Applejacks for me!), and head on over to the HP Pavilion where the day was going to take place. 9 Sharks alumni were supposed to participate: Jamie Baker, Doug Bodger, David Maley, Bernie Nicholls, Jeff Norton, Jeff Odgers, Ron Stern, and Gary Suter. 7:15 we arrive, and stand around with the other camp participants waiting for them to let us in. Immediately someone was greeting people, and I recognized him to be Lamont Hollywood from 107.7 The Bone. I knew he was supposed to be there, as his name had been added the day before.
Back when I moved out here in 1995, I was scanning the dial looking for a fun morning radio show to listen to. I happened upon 92.3 KSJO, and the Lamont and Tonelli show. I don't think I stopped laughing the entire way on my morning commute, so from then on I listened to them every morning. Sometimes their stuff got a little vicious (like Dirty Friday), but even when I didn't listen to them later on after I met Leif, I still remembered what it sounded like. They I found out they moved to 107.7, and I still listen occasionally. I had heard clips of their morning show on my drive home on Friday night, and the clip they played was Lamont laughing about how he was participating in this fantasy camp the next day and how out of shape he was and stuff. I went over and talked to him and told him how much I liked the show and stuff. He was extremely charismatic, very personable, and genuinely seemed glad I liked the show. As we were standing there, one other woman walked up, so it turned out just to be me and her. As the day went on, it became clear I was definitely more outgoing than she was, as I "made the rounds" of the alumni and such.
Finally they let us in, and after checking in they told us how to get to the dressing room. Leif and I were on the home team so we headed to the home team dressing room. The locker room was pretty big, considering normally when we play hockey we're used to changing on little benches, and we don't have our own lockers. We each had our own place, with a nametag above it so we knew where to sit. Each spot had a black practice jersey hanging up, black socks, a duffel bag with our name on it (just written), shower shoes, water bottle, a helmet, and a pair of gloves. It was pretty overwhelming I must say. I glanced in the duffel bag, and saw a zip-up sweatshirt, a nice short sleeve shirt, a pair of shorts, and a couple other goodies.
All of us in the room started talking a bit nervously (or maybe that was just me :) while we were changing. A couple of the people had done the fantasy camp 2 years ago (there wasn't one last year because of the NHL lockout), and were looking forward to doing it again. The Sharks alumni who were going to be on our team filtered in eventually: Jeff Norton, Doug Bodger, Gary Suter, and Dave Maley. Leif's locker was in the corner, and I was to his left, and around the corner to his right ended up being Jeff Norton. Jeff was easily the most outgoing of the bunch, cracking jokes and laughing.
Once we were all changed, it was close to 8am, and time for our practice to begin. The 2 Sharks assistant coaches, Tim Hunter and Rob Zettler were going to take us through an hour of drills and practice. When I first skated out on the ice, I just kind of stopped and looked around. We were in the Shark Tank, on the ice, in a totally empty arena. It was kind of surreal honestly, but cool just the same. The first thing I noticed after that was that the rink was extremely big – much bigger than we're used to playing on. We skated around for a bit, warming up, until one of the coaches came on the ice and blew the whistle for us to gather around.
The practice was pretty grueling, not just because we were so out of shape. :) First we had to take a puck, and dribble it around the rink. When they blew the whistle, we had to skate faster, when they blew it again we could slow down. After that drill, it was more of the same, except the second time they blew the whistle we had to turn with the puck towards the boards and skate the other way. I was pretty tired after that drill. Then we did some stretching exercises, and they asked one of the alumni to lead that. Then passing drills where we picked a partner (Leif, obviously for me), and had to do different types of passing. Then we did a real passing drill where we split into 2 lines, and had to pass to the person on the other side of the boards who then took the puck up and tried to score on the goalie. I actually did real well on that one, except for 1 of my passes which was too short. Everything else was good though. :) At some point 2 of the alumni were put in the other zone who we could pass to as we skated towards the goal, and they'd pass it back. I had no trouble with that. Passing to people has actually been one of my strong suits honestly. I'd much rather pass it to set someone up than take it up myself. After that one we played a little 3-3 scrimmage until they blew the whistle to switch up the lines, probably like after a minute or so.
There was a guy with a Fox Sports Net camera filming some of this on the side too.
While all this was going on, a few of the Sharks, who had arrived for their morning practice, had come out to watch what was going on. We saw coach Ron Wilson, Scott Hannan, Christian Ehrhoff, and Scott Parker poke their heads out.
At 9 we were done, and had an hour to shower and change before we were going to go back out to the ice and watch the Sharks morning skate. I have to say, there's nothing like a shower after hockey when you're hot and sweaty. Everyone was ready to go close to 9:30, and since no one was on the ice yet, we took this opportunity to chat, eat some of the food that had been left for us (bread, peanut butter, nutella, danishes, Nutrigrain bars), and chug some juice and water from the fridge that we all noticed in the room. There also was a TV in the dressing room as well tuned to some Saturday morning crap which was just on in the background. Also one of the event organizers came into the room and announced that we could get a free massage if we wanted one downstairs, so a bunch of people filed out for that. Lamont showed up in our dressing room at some point with a bunch of Lamont and Tonelli CDs. I had him autograph my Sharks jersey and my CD. We walked out into the rink to watch the Sharks practice and they were already on the ice at 9:55 when we went out there. I told Leif to bring his camera out, even though the instructions said you really shouldn't take pictures of the practice. I figured we'd do the "ask forgiveness not permission" thing, which ended up working. He didn't have the big lens for his camera, having given it to Bryan Call since Bryan was going to come to the scrimmage game and take pictures, but ended up getting some decent pictures. While Marleau was leading the Sharks in stretching warmup, Ron Wilson was taking a bunch of shots from the blue line. He's definitely still got it. All the coaches were messing around with the puck which was fun to watch. The Sharks went off the ice close to 10:30, but 3 of them (Jim Fahey, Doug Murray, Nabokov) stayed on with the assistant coaches, and did a bunch of extra practice. Leif and I were under the assumption that that meant Nabokov was going to start that night, but we found out later that they were all healthy scratches and since they weren't playing they get some extra practice to stay in shape.
Towards the end of that, I saw the camera guy setting up somewhere behind us, and some coordinator was standing with him. I thought he might be Jeff, the guy I've been talking to over email so much about the event, and one of the guys who was setting it up, so I wanted to go and thank him for making it fun so far. I walked up to him, and it turned out he was Sean, the producer of Shark Byte. I started talking to him a little bit, and mentioned something about me and my husband having a lot of fun so far. He asked me if my husband was there then, and I said, "yeah, he's sitting over there", and pointed out Leif to him. He then asked if he could interview us for Shark Byte because he thought it was cool that there was a husband and wife team doing the event. Apparently there was also a family of 4, the dad and the 3 kids who were all early 30's, and he had interviewed them as well. I knew Leif wasn't going to be happy, but it was Shark Byte, so I wasn't going to give him a choice. I called him over, told him what was going on, he looked skeptical, but I told him I wasn't giving him an option in this, and I'd talk more than him if he wanted. Sean took us over to the little video area they had set up just behind where we were sitting, and the camera guy gave us little mikes and stuff to put on, all the while Sean was talking to us, I guess trying to relax us since I told him I'd never been interviewed like that on camera before, then he asked if we were ready, and started going. The power of TV. He told us just to keep talking and we could repeat ourselves if we wanted and they'd edit it later. I think I sounded pretty stupid since I tried to be funny at one point (my sense of humor) but probably fell completely flat, so I'm hoping they cut that part out. He asked us things like how we met, and how long we'd been married, and stuff about hockey, and what we wanted to get out of the day. I talked most of the time, but Leif answered a bunch of stuff as well. Sean said he was going to give me the video footage even if they don't use it, so that'll be cool, but I'm hoping they use a little of it at least.
The Coyotes started practicing after this, and we all thought Wayne Gretzky was going to come out and skate like Ron Wilson did, but he didn't. I went back to the locker room at that point to go to the bathroom, and noticed they had put out our game jerseys. Wow......authentic Sharks jerseys....the black ones...with our names on them! I just stood there for a minute and looked at all of them, and stupid me was so in awe that I completely forgot to take a picture. Oh well. On my way back out, I passed Doug Wilson, the Sharks GM, who said hi to me, then we watched Coyotes practice.
At 11:40, we were ushered to The Grill for a buffet lunch of chicken, pasta, salad, and rolls. On the way there we passed Doug Wilson again who was saying hi to everyone, and I stopped and said to him, "Mr. Wilson, I just wanted to tell you that was a fantastic trade, the Thornton one." He smiled and said "thank you, but make sure to call me Doug." Leif and I sat with 2 other random people we didn't know and had just met, and the 4 of us were enjoying a leisurely lunch, when Jamie Baker sat down at our table and we started talking to him. One of the guys asked him exactly what Brendon Witt had said to Scott Parker in Nashville/Sharks game to make Scott Parker try to climb over the boards and kill him, but Jamie said he didn't know since he was too far away to hear. I asked him my dying-to-know announcer question – do they practice how they say "SCORRRRRE" so it comes out with the right excitement and intonation? He laughed and said that he never said it, that only Dan Rusinowsky does, and that Dan was in the room sitting at another table. He pointed him out to me, I made a mental note of that so I could talk to him later on.
At some point we were ushered out into the hall to take a picture with Doug who had to act like we were just drafted, so the picture was with him and whomever holding a Sharks jersey, shaking hands, and smiling into the camera. When it was my turn he remembered me from before, and I said hi and told him my name since I hadn't before. We went back to lunch and were sitting there talking, and Doug came up to our table, said something to Jamie, and then asked us if he could sit down and have lunch with us. Of course we said he could, so he got a plate of food and came back, and saw me and said "Hi Michelle". What was actually funny about that, is that throughout the day, most people remembered my name just because I was one of the only girls, but hey, I didn't mind, I just thought it was cool that for one day Doug Wilson knew who I was. I must say, he was taking a big chance with having lunch with us because he had to have known we were going to start asking him question after question, which we did, and he took it all in stride, and answered us. We did get an answer to the Brendon Witt question, and it turned out it wasn't Witt who said anything, but some other guy further down on the bench (who made some crack about Parker's family or something like that (the camera was filming Wilson at that point, so he chose his language carefully)), but Witt was the closest to Parker. We talked to him about goalies, like how we all liked Schaefer, and he said there were goalies up and coming that the Sharks have that were even better than him. Drew Remenda from the TV broadcasts showed up to say something to Jamie so I got a picture with him. I decided to go talk to Dan before he left because it looked like he was going to leave soon. I introduced myself to him, and told him how much I enjoyed the broadcasts since for so many of the away games I'm still at work when the game starts so I listen to the streaming audio. He was extremely nice, and actually talked almost more than I did. :) I asked him the same radio announcer question that I had asked Jamie, and he said it's definitely something acquired over time and he's had a lot of time to practice it and get it so it sounds right. I also asked him about doing research before the game and how much time they put into it since when they're doing the play-by-play they don't have a lot of time to look at an actual cheat sheet and figure out who actually has the puck. He showed me a large packet of paper and said that they get something like that before every game, and basically will spend all day going through it, figuring out what tidbits of information they can and want to use, since there's no way they can figure that out during the game, and they do their best to learn the players at that point.
I took a picture of Dave Maley with Leif's camera, and talked with him a little, and he asked if I could take a picture of all the alumni since Doug was there too, and his camera is just a little bitty one. I pulled Leif into this since he's the camera expert, Dave got all the alums together, and we snapped a picture which I told him I'd put up on my Flickr account and email him on Sunday. Lunch soon ended, and it was time to get ready for the big game...
Too amusing to not share. We were leaving the Shark Tank after the 5-2 win over the Oilers, and were walking through the parking lot. In front of us were 2 dads, and slightly behind them, but still in front of us were their 2 kids, about ages 6 or 7, who were messing around in the parking lot.
One of the dads finally noticed the kids were playing in the parking lot, and grabbed his arm.
Dad: Haven't I told you before not to play in the parking lot?
Kid: We weren't playing!
Dad: What are you smoking?
I'm so using that when we have kids...
A few weeks ago, the San Jose Sharks had their first autograph session of the year. Not knowing what we were getting ourselves in to, we decided to cough up the $60 per person and head over to Logitech Ice on the big day.
Beforehand, we did some calculations. The Sharks said they were only selling 300 tickets max, and each person could get 2 autographs per player (and only 1 ticket per person). That's 600 autographs a player. Could it be done?
The answer is yes, it could be done. The money benefited the Sharks Foundation so that was a good cause, and after talking to a couple of the Sharks Foundation people, they told me the players were doing this completely out of the goodness of their hearts for charity.
Anyways, we showed up around 7 (it started at 7, but doors opened at 6:30), and quickly realized we were pretty close to the back of the line, but more people filed in as the evening wore on. Sharkie was there of course so his was the first autograph we got. 90 minutes later, we finally hit the table where the players were (all 9 of them). The players were seated at multiple tables in a line in alphabetical order. There was a nice, big sign saying "no photos", to which I promptly ignored and took photos of all the players. I figured I'd snap away until someone said something to me. No one ever did, so I have photos of all the players.
We also figured out that with a 2 hour event, we'd have roughly 10 seconds per player if we wanted to say anything. I probably went a little bit over that time period, but Leif was a little shy so he didn't really say anything. I told Nils Ekman he was my favorite player (in Swedish of course, but he answered me in English). When I was getting Jonathan Cheechoo's autograph, some woman by the door (teenager I should say) yelled "I love you Cheechoo!" He turned a little red, but not much, so he probably gets stuff like that a lot, even though it's weird. He had just received his new bottom teeth and said he was still getting used to them.
Anyways, both of us now have 10 autographs on our jerseys, pages in the Sharks yearbook signed, and we also got an extra jersey signed to send out to Leif's nephew, Jonas in Sweden.