When Words Collide, Sentences Form

So much to say...

...so little time to say it! Between visiting The Family in FLA and various other extra-curricular activities, I haven't really sat down at Compy much to type to my faithful fan. (Thanks, The Mom.)

* The Wendy's Cup record was officially broken again, just a mere 48 hours after it was set. 33 cups in one sitting with 4 family members. For those of you keeping track...that's a full one-way ticket in one visit to a fast food restaurant! Plus 1 extra to kick off the next ticket. As a side note, John, the manager of The Family's favorite Wendy's is moving to another Wendy's to take over there. The big mystery now is who will take over for him at The Favorite Wendy's...and will they still give out new cups for refills under the new manager's reign? And The Family is bringing a gift to The Best Cashier there today. Not joking. She is really nice though.

* We went to a TB Lightning game while I was home this past week...many highs and lows. First, the lows. With the new rules, the game is less aggressive. I'm not talking about a lack of fighting - I'm talking about a lack of HITTING. No board checks. Nothing. They skate around each other. That's no fun. The game is also faster - which is fine (although it was already pretty fast-paced and now the scores are higher, which isn't really as exciting as it seems) - but I don't think that the officials can keep up with the new pace. They keep getting in the way or not catching up to play and missing calls or making non-existent calls. Like there was a hooking penalty called on a player - but the nearest player from the oppossing team was located on the other end of the ice! And then they called icing on a team that was on a PK. Huh? Also, it is very apparent that the Lightning don't have anyone back from their game production staff of past years. It used to be that if you went to a Lightning game at the Ice Palace it was a flawless presentation. You really had to struggle to find something wrong. Now it's just sloppy and poorly done. That's sad because their games used to just be awesome - for the non-hockey fan as well as the die-hard fan of the sport. Their music was more of a downer than a tool for pumping up the crowd (you can't play ballads during breaks in action - that just doesn't work); the steps and walkways haven't been cleaned very well since the facility was under-used last year and are slippery and dirty (much like how they are at Tropicana - home of the Devil Rays); the team intro before the National Anthem was too long, drawn out and boring; and during intermission they turn off ALL of the lights except for the scoreboard. Is their ice cooling system that bad? I know you dim the lights during intermission to reduce heat - but it was so dark that you couldn't see the steps or anything. It was really quite dangerous. And then you couldn't read the program during the intermission - you had to read it while play was going on if you wanted to read something about a player or whatever. AND as The Sister pointed out, the players are listed in the program alphabetically...which is fine if you can read the names on the backs of jerseys. But if you are trying to figure out who a player is, you probably don't know his name but you can see the giant numbers on his sweater. After the sport takes a year off, they should make it really easy to get reacquainted with the athletes...not a struggle.

* And now the highs (they are just as numerous, just there's not much to expand upon!). It is great to see the NHL playing again - I really missed it last year. I'm living in "The State of Hockey." And we had no hockey. There's not even a minor league team here! The Lightning intro included a neat graphic on the ice and scoreboards declaring the region "Hockey Bay" - cheesy, but funny, and more unifying then anything else local teams come up with! We got to sing "The Hey Song" five times for goals (yes, I know I said that high scoring games aren't necessarily more exciting, but when it's your team you want to celebrate a lot). And the popcorn at the Ice Palace is still really good!

* I'm watching the Rose Parade - a highlight every year. Definitely the prettiest parade out there. But I was just thinking about how the floats are the same basics every years - giant woodland creatures, jungle animals, a safari, a plane, something with big birds, a Disney-type show or two and a couple of houses of come type. Oh, and at least 2 or 3 children's books - usually featuring a fairy tale - come alive. Which is fine because all of those things look really awesome with all of the flowers. What's weird about it is that the theme changes every single year. But the floats don't! This year's theme is something like "It's magic." So I would expect magicians, bunnies, wands, Harry Potter-esque ideas, wizards, etc. Maybe the Disney float could be based around "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." Or not. And as I write this...the FTD float is a genie on a magic carpet with a Las Vegas magician who is NOT making the rain disappear. The first, and probably only, real "Magical" float. Figures FTD's float proves me wrong. (That float is followed by a float with an adobe house honoring Pueblo Indians...no explanation of why it's magical...but follows my rule of "Rose Parade Staples." Yeah, we've got that.)

* I'm pretty sure I had more to say, but I'm distracted by the floats. So I'll be back later.

* And oh yeah - HAPPY NEW YEAR! May 2006 be healthy, happy and prosperous for all of you!

posted by Steph @ 8:48 AM