:: hockeybear ::

Doesn’t anybody look behind them when they’re backing out of parking spaces anymore? I got hit by a red BMW this afternoon in Cupertino. He clipped my rear bumper when I was driving through a parking lot. He said he didn’t see me. Probably more like, he didn’t look behind him before he started to reverse. I’m in a frickin’ CR-V and he’s in this little BMW. Look in your rear view mirror at least, dummy! That’s the second time we’ve been hit by people reversing without looking behind them. C’mon people! Safety first!

i haven’t posted anything in months and months and have probably lost my one or two readers. apologies…things have been really busy. my sister and brother-in-law are moving to denver later this year. vanessa and i flew out last week to help them look at houses. the houses there are insane! 3000sf, 5 br, 3 ba, 3 car garage for under $400k? that will get you a condo in the bay area.

we also went to a colorado avalanche game. the pepsi center is nice and really convenient with a lightrail stop right by the front door. however, it still doesn’t beat the shark tank. i didn’t like the white nets, and the view is not as good from the upperdeck.

the sharks won another one today… nine in a row. they’ve been playing much better recently. brian campbell is awesome! please resign with the sharks this summer!

Check out our pictures from our recent Alaskan Cruise
http://www.leviandvanessa.com/travels/

Vanessa and I just got back from our Alaskan/Canadian Cruise today. It was a really amazing trip! Pretty tired right now because we only got a couple of hours of sleep. Woke up before dawn to watch our ship come into San Francisco Bay under the Golden Gate Bridge. It will probably take us a couple of weeks to sort thru our 2000+ photos.

Skipped the nap this afternoon to watch the Cal vs. Oregon football game. Thank you, Marcus Ezeff, for forcing the fumble at the goaline in the last minute of play, making up for your personal-foul late hit from the first half (which extended an Oregon drive which resulted in a TD). Talk about redemption… GO BEARS!

This afternoon, Vanessa and I were at Best Buy in Sunnyvale. Vanessa was backing out of her parking spot and then stopped right in the middle and yelled, “Oh Crap! They’re coming right at us!” I was in the passenger seat, and looked to my right. I saw this blue Jetta backing out really fast toward us and I told Vanessa to honk ‘em!!! Unfortunately, Vanessa couldn’t honk ‘em in time, and they hit us. Gave us a pretty good jolt, but fortunately, no one was hurt and it doesn’t look like either car was damaged (with the exception of some cosmetic scratches on the bumpers).

In instances like this, I wish I had some super-powers… like any of the abilities of “The Incredibles.” If I was Violet, I could create a force-field around our car. Or use Elastigirls arms to wrap around the car and cushion the blow. Or be super-fast like Dash and run over to the other car and slam on their brakes. Or even use Frozone’s freezing ability to create an “ice-jack” and elevate the Jetta. Altho with Mr. Incredible, I don’t know if I would have been able to jump out of the car and lift either of them fast enough. And I’m not sure how Jack-Jack’s powers would be helpful…

Maybe it’s time I should try and learn telekenesis

I ended up being sick for most of July. I caught the stomach flu on July 3rd, and was pretty sick for about 10 days. I was then feeling better and finally healthy for about a week, and then caught another cold for the rest of the month. That kind of sucked. I still have a bit of the sore/frog-in-my-throat thing, but at least overall, I’m doing better.

Vanessa and I have been watching the real estate bubble the last few years, and it finally looks like it’s popping. The only way they were able to keep it up was the loose standards by lendors. 100% financing, no money down, stated income, neg-am, interest-only, adjustable rate mortgages. House prices just weren’t in sync with people’s wages. It just doesn’t make sense to pay $1 million dollars for a fixer upper and/or carry a mortgage you can’t afford to pay. I think this will take a few years to play out, but I hope banks return to the traditional 20% down, documented, 30yr fixed loans. Maybe in a few years, we’ll be able to afford something around here.

Since we don’t get a chance to go to New York very often to eat at my favorite chinese restaurant, Joe’s Shanghai, we’re always looking for a place around here that has good ‘xiao long bao.’ We went to San Mateo last weekend in search of some of these tasty soup dumplings. After reading some reviews on Yelp, we went looking for this small hole-in-the-wall place called Happy Cafe. When we finally found it, we discovered they’re only open at lunchtime and Wednesday nights.

This other place called Shanghai East got some good reviews on Yelp, and was only a few miles away. We sat down and were perusing the menu. Meanwhile, a couple of the chefs in the kitchen started yelling at each other. We couldn’t tell what they were arguing about…It didn’t sound Mandarin or Cantonese, maybe they were speaking Shanghainese. The hostess and waitresses would try to hush them and tell them to stop. After a minute, they were still yelling and then starting throwing things around in the kitchen. Since our waitress hadn’t taken our order yet, we decided to leave. We figured they probably wouldn’t be cooking very well in their current state of mind. We think the hostess thought we were leaving because of what was on their menu. While we were leaving, she was saying, ‘We have lots of things that we can cook that aren’t on the menu, like Kung Pao Chicken.” Sorry, but it wasn’t the menu, it was the melee in the kitchen. I was just picturing a butcher-knife battle a la Jason Scott Lee in Dragon. Maybe we’ll go back some day and give them another shot…

And so the search continues…

Sharks-
Ugh. For the third year in a row, the Sharks win six games in the post-season and then hit a wall… They had their chances against Detroit though. In Game 2, they had a two-goal lead and let in a short-handed game-tying goal in the third and then the game winning goal with under two minutes to play. In Game 5, they had another two-goal lead and gave up the game-tying goal in the last minute and lost in overtime. If either of those games went differently, it could’ve been a whole different series. Frustrating, and a lot of people think we should blow up the team after the loss. Trade Marleau, trade Nabby, dump Bell, etc., but I don’t agree. If I were Doug Wilson, here is what I would do:

1) Sign Thornton and Marleau to extensions now. It seems like they enjoy playing in San Jose, so hopefully, they’ll sign for a hometown discount. Marleau didn’t play that well against Detroit, but he hasn’t been the same since February with that separated shoulder. Years ago, everyone in Boston was on Joe’s case for not getting a point in the Boston-Montreal playoffs when he was playing thru a rib injury. I guess thankfully for San Jose, Boston dumped Joe to us.

2) Resign either Hannan or Rivet, you can’t afford both. Hannan is a great shut-down guy, but he’s got no offense, and is not a great passer. If he’s looking for Chris Phillips’ type money in the $3.5mil/year range, you have to let him go. Resign Rivet, if only for his right-handed shot on the point and for teaching the youngsters.

3) Guerin is probably gone, unless he’s willing to resign for really cheap for one year. I think they’ll probably give Devin Setoguchi a shot to make the team next year.

4) I love Mark Smith, but he deserves a raise and another team will probably offer him more. Bye Smitty! Not a lot of skill, but a ton of heart.

5) Mark Bell… such high hopes, but he had a bad year. I’m hoping he’ll bounce back strong next year.

6) I think one of the goalies will be traded. I love them both, but one of them will probably be gone. Nabby has the big contract and the no-trade clause, so Toskala is probably gone. Maybe they can trade Toskala for the vet D man we need.

7) Our main target in the offseason should be a vet defenseman who is solid on D, can pass, and can actually hit the net with a shot. Mathieu Schneider from Detroit is unrestricted (unless he’s mad at Patty for breaking his wrist in the playoffs). I’ve always liked Brian Rafalski from New Jersey, even if he’s a little on the small side. I wouldn’t want Souray from Montreal. He’s too bad defensively to make up for his offense. Not very easy to find though. Maybe Boston would be willing to do another 3-for-1 trade for their captain.

Here’s what I think the 2007-2008 Sharks should look like:
Clowe-Thornton-Cheechoo
Michalek-Marleau-Setoguchi
Rissmiller-Goc-Bernier
Bell-Brown-Grier
Vlasic-????
Rivet-Carle
McLaren-Erhoff
Nabokov
Bench-Pavelski,Davison,Murray,Patzold

I believe Doug Wilson is holding a press conference tomorrow to talk about the team and the past season. We’ll see what happens…

As for the remaining teams vying for the Stanley Cup this year, I was rooting for Buffalo (because they were robbed by Dallas and Brett Hull’s in-the-crease goal in the finals years ago), but they just got knocked out. Anyone but the Ducks… but since everyone I’ve been rooting for has been losing, maybe I should cheer for the Ducks. Puck Fronger!

Vanessa wanted me to grow a playoff beard this year to support the Sharks. However, after the end of the Nashville series, I was too itchy and prickly so I shaved it off. Instead, I’ll shave the night before each 7-game series starts, and then let it grow until the Sharks (hopefully) advances. The Sharks take on the Red Wings in Detroit tomorrow in Game 1, so it’s time to get the razor out. Go Sharks!

Vanessa and I finally got around to watching “An Inconvenient Truth” this weekend. If you have not seen it yet, please watch it now and do whatever you can to stop global warming. I’m going to try and walk/bike to work more often now. The arrogance and idiocy of the Bush administration continues to amaze and frighten me.

Check out this site which maps what will happen if the sea level rises.
http://flood.firetree.net/