Boo Sharks! Boo ref!

So I went to the Joe tonight, first time ever. awesomeness. Pictures to come later if I remember.

We got there early, got in when the gates opened, very cool. Arenas are always smaller than you think when you're older. It was nice to finally be at a home game, although the crowd was pretty quiet. (I hate scoreboards that tell you when to cheer. I know when to cheer, idiots.)

Too bad the Sharks scored early and kept up the pace. The third goal was crap - off the net and onto the ice, but of course the Wings stopped playing and waited for the whistle. Bad idea. Stupid ref wouldn't review it. Um, that's why the NHL has video review. Expect an apology. Don't expect a penalty for the ref.

Great experience, though, until we got back to Ann Arbor. We kind of went a different way through town, which meant that instead of my brother and sister-in-law getting back to their B&B right before the snowstorm, we drove around in it. Not fun. Good thing it was a rental.

Boo Sharks!

UPDATE: apparently it's not a reviewable call, because goodness knows we're not allowed to see whether or not a puck went out of play. (Upside to black netting: less visible to fans. Downside: less visible to refs.)

Hello, my good friend

Ah yes, there you are. Your solid blue casing, your familiar buttons ... that 10-key pad I know so well ... trivia, dear trivia, we are reunited again.

Stopped at Damon's for dinner (ribs, yum) and trivia. Surprised that the one here in Ann Arbor is all SD. Dominated as usual (topped the board on Get Reel, which was a pleasant surprise). Then back to the room for some 360 gaming (got to work on that Auto-Challenge). A quick 150 on arcade games should give me a good start. It's a one-week challenge. Too bad Avatar isn't arriving soon.

I didn't bring any retail ones because they'd look bad in SD. Wonder if that Wyndham in Chicago has HD in the rooms? Can't remember.

Cheater

I just came up with a great analogy. I think it's great, anyway. If you don't, too bad, you'll notice I didn't add a poll to this post.

Here's the deal. It's like Sampson has a white-collar job with this big company, and he's stealing mechanical pencils. Cheap ones, you know, 89 cents or something like that. Maybe the first couple were accidental: you have one in your hand near the end of the day, you get a phone call or run into the boss' office or something, you put it in your pocket and forget you did that, and you get home and there it is. It's just one pencil, why take it back?

But eventually he realizes that no one's really bugging him about the pencils, so he starts taking a few of them home a day. Just a few. No big deal yet. And as he doesn't get caught, he takes more, and more, until he's taking home a couple of boxes at a time.

What he doesn't realize is that all the pencils have RFID tags, and so his company knows he's doing it, so HR calls him in.

"Dude, you can't be taking pencils home with you like that. It's getting out of control."
"What do you mean? I'm not taking pencils home."
"Um, yes you are. Hundreds of them. You've been doing it for weeks."
"No I'm not."
"Alright, here's the deal. You've been stealing pencils. A lot of them. However, it's not like you're stealing computers. Yet. So, no more vacation time for you. Actually, it might be better if we relocate you to another part of the company, so you can kind of get a fresh start.
"But here's the thing: no matter what, DON'T STEAL ANY MORE PENCILS. I don't want to see you breaking any rule or law, but definitely don't steal any more pencils."
"Um, okay."

So yeah, his coworkers are saying "Dude, you got transferred because you were stealing pencils? That's weak!" Well, no, it was because he stole a bunch of them over a period of time and wasn't really forthcoming about it.

Well, time goes on, and what do you know? All of a sudden, pencils are disappearing again. So they call him in.

"What did I tell you? No more stealing pencils! And now you're doing it again!"
"Um, no I'm not."
"The hell you aren't! We track them, you know. We can tell you every single pencil you've taken."
"Those weren't stolen. See, one of my coworkers, Rick, he was doing this project, and he needed a lot of pencils, and I told him that if it was work-related, then he could use some from work if he took them back when he was done, and so he did, but he got busy at home, and he couldn't take them back, so he asked me if I would take them back for him, and before I could answer, he drove up in his truck, dumped them in my yard and took off. And I couldn't just leave them there, so I brought them inside, and I was just getting ready to take them back when you called."

See, it's not the pencils themselves. I realize that's not a major issue itself. (I also realize that the NCAA isn't limited to pursuing a single coach at a time, which seems to be a main point of that "argument." See, they can bust Sampson for pencils and someone else for manslaughter AT THE SAME TIME. Very clever, they are.)

It's that he stole HUNDREDS of them. MORE THAN ONCE. And LIED about it. BADLY. Now, I've never done this myself, but I know people who have ... when you are on probation for something, don't get caught doing it again. Just a tip.

But it's okay. He can always get a job announcing. Hell, Valvano did it, Packer does it, anyone with basketball experience can. Clean ethical background not required.

sweet!

I finally got past Vasoline and Green Grass and High Tides on Hard drums. In the same night. (Practice, practice, practice.) Working on the seventh set now.

And on top of that, I was one of three winners in x360a's seventh-day contest, so I'm getting two free games, College Hoops 2K8 and Culdcept Saga.

And I get bagels tomorrow, imported from Ohio.

And I have a helpful cat assisting me with this post, or perhaps subtly reminding me that it is time for bed. (Okay, it's the latter.)

Sunday ftw!

Good weekend

So I got my replacement guitar from EA (and two customer sat surveys: um, yeah, slow response, fix it - next!), and proceeded to rock out with the Pastries through our Hall of Fame induction. 100 gamerscore for that? w00t!

And this little basketball thing. Purdue +1. It's like the men's team is suddenly good or something. We'll see for sure Tuesday, or not. They could easily lose and then go back to where they were projected prior to the season, which is to say, first-round NCAA out at best.

Or they could beat the Spartans, and lock down the Big Ten lead for a while, and ... we'll see.

Also, it's cold.

Wheel: squeak

So, while some people were receiving something more than an apology for their broken Rock Band equipment, others were getting nothing. nothing at all.

Yep, nothing.

So I added a new issue and said Hey, where's my stuff?

nothing. nothing. nothing.

So yesterday, I updated that issue and said hello? I'm not happy.

Today, I got two messages: an apology (their system had a problem and didn't automatically send out my guitar) and a tracking number. Second-day air.

good. Of course, I don't get a game for it ...