District of Columbian Beards

According to Stereogum, the number two google search in the aftermath of the Superbowl halftime show was Tom Petty's age. The answer is 57. But if you are like me, the question that immediately emerged was: "Holy shit! Who was the 5th Traveling Wilburry?" Now, for Pat Hall and I a quick rattling-off of the Wilburys is a traditional late night sobriety test , and as it was nothing like late night and I was reasonably sober this sudden gap in my recollection was obviously troubling. So I called Patty , who must have sensed the panic in my voice when I blurted out, in lieu of a hello, "Holy shit! I can't remember the 5th Traveling Wilburry!"
Quoth Mr. Hall: "Jeff Lynne."
Here is what I love about Patty: Technically, either Bob Dylan or Tom Petty himself should be considered the 5th WIlbury, but he knew instinctively that I would be considering them in terms of their general fame, and since, unlike me, he avoids the pedantic, he skipped right to the marrow.
So then I was just left with the distressing notion that of all the Traveling Ws to forget I had spaced on the Mr. ELO. Its always a shock to be faced with the immensity of your own lameness laid bare. I mean, couldn't it have been Bob Dylan of George Harrison? They always struck me as the more unlikely of the bunch.
So, as penance, and in an attempt to begin the long slow process of rebuilding my shattered self-image, the 4th floor of the Washington Post, at least the portion of it defined by my headphones, will be rocking out to the sounds of the Orchestra of Electric Light for the rest of the day.

So it seems like most people I know actually enjoy going to their barber/salon/stylist. Not so much me. I don't know why. It pushes some personal barrier issue buttons with me that I can't explain. This more than anything is why I tend to let my hair grow really long between cuts. I try to limit myself to 3, maybe 4 haircuts a year. I would just let it go, but being blessed by thin, straight, boring locks and a prominent forehead, that is not such a great idea.
So this weekend I bought a decent pair of clippers, and I have decided that I am going to train Dre to cut hair. Specifically mine.
Unless... Do any of you people I call friends have secret grooming skills?. I have discovered in the past that my other-people-touching-my-hair-issue extends only to strangers. So if I know you and you think you can make my hair shorter and hipper without sending me to work with a mohawhk (not that that would necessarily be a problem, my work enviro is pretty lax) I will totally pay you the 20 dollars I would be forking over to some stranger.

Or (and preferably) I can bake you some sugar cookies and go crazy decorating them. I have been doing a lot of decorative baking recently. Too much really. I can still taste the royal icing I mixed on Friday.

This is a great animation my feed reader gave me (via fantasticanimation):

Which is to say I that I have copies printed of the Energy drink story starring Ana, Chris, Chris and Cyndi. For those of you not in the story it runs on Sunday the 21st. I imagine it will be online, but the printed edition is going to look so much better. Me section reproduces terribly on the intarnets.

Next up: a story about local hip-hop venues in DC.

Isle of Capri lost their Pennsylvania gaming bid. This is really bad news for the Pittsburgh Penguins, as their bid for a new arena and a new lease on life in their home city was in large part staked to an Isle of Capri win. Damn. As a Caps fan I hate the Pens and love cheering against them. Notice I said love there. The 'Guins moving would be a tragedy. That city has good, passionate hockey fans. They don't deserve to lose their team.

That being said, its fairly easy to see a silver lining in this. Their going west would leave a void in the Atlantic division.

"Dear Baby Jesus, if you must take a team from good hockey fans who really do love and deserve their franchise, will you at least make some good of it by moving the Caps into the void in the Atlantic so they can begin regularly facing historic rivals such as Jersey and the New Yorks, instead of unexciting Southeast upstarts. In your divine wisdom this will be easy to work out, but here is a suggestion: put Nashville in the SE and stick the Kansas City Pens (or Las Vegas Pens or Portland Pens or Seattle Pens) in the Central/Pacific/Northwest. Thank you."

A little rec league hockey self-analysis:

In five games this season I have 3 goals, 2 assists and 8 penalty minutes.

I have never scored more than 1 goal or been penalized more that 2 minutes in any game. In games in which I didn't score and didn't  get penalized my team got shutout.

My penalties are a bench minor, a tripping, a roughing and a boarding. The bench penalty was received during a shutout.

So, it seems to me, that the key to my scoring (and possibly my team’s) is to commit a penalty of the 2 minute variety early.

I guess can live with that.

Its too bad I'm on my team's first PK unit, otherwise that plan would be flawless.

Capsducks

Glynn says: Tonight holds great promise for fans attending Hockey Night in Washington. The home team has been on a tear, winning 4 in a row against some of the best teams in hockey. The visiting team is one of the best teams in hockey. Both teams feature lovable European superstars whose rookie performances garnered Calder Trophies and whose interviews are freakin' hilarious. To top it all off, the DC United fan group La Barra Brava is attending tonight's match en-mass and will be cheering and singing soccer style. Holy crap I'm excited.

I'm mostly going to this one to see Teemu Selanne. He's the Duck's superstar who still holds the record for rookie goal scoring with an amazing 76 goals and 132 points in 1992-1993. He's in the midst of a career renaissance and the stupid NHL schedule means, unless he changes teams, I won't see him in DC for 3 more years by which time he will almost surely be retired. But he's hardly the Ducks only talent. Anaheim has probably the two best defensemen in the league: Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer. Add to that a goaltender, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who's in top form, and this team has only lost 3 times in regulation this year. They are my pick to represent the West in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Caps have been giant killers of late. Players other than Ovechkin have been stepping up to put goals in and Olaf Kolzig is capturing national attention with his amazing performances. It's still mostly about Alex who, while looking less flashy this year, is on pace to score more goals and is playing better hockey all-around. People are talking playoffs, though I think that's still a year off. Without question, this team is better than last year, better than people's predictions, and in the last couple games, better than they should actually be. Tonight is not a test for this team, they should certainly lose this one, but a victory would legitimize their playoff hopes in the eyes of many.

Prediction: Caps goals from Alexander Semin #28, Mike Green #52 and Alexander Ovechkin #8. Ducks goals from Chris Kunitz #14, Any McDonald #19, and Selanne #8. It ends in a shootout that the Ducks win on a Getzlaf #15 difference maker. There's also at least a 40% chance I bring a salami to throw on the ice for Selanne's goal.

My Take: So for the fourth time in four games the Caps are facing off against one of the better teams in the league. After Dallas, Buffalo and Ottawa, playing against the league’s elite must be starting to feel like old hat. Well lets hope it doesn’t feel too comfortable, because even among that vaunted crowd, Anaheim stands out. Their defensive prowess is well documented, but for the uninitiated, they  boast two of the best (top 5, easy) defenders in the NHL in Pronger and Niedermayer, and between the two of them it seems like one is almost always on the ice. Also, unlike Ottawa and Buffalo, Anaheim doesn’t play a particularly fast game, rather, more like Dallas, they seem to slow down the ice and frustrate a team's faster skill players while allowing their snipers to get open one timers and short breaks. Speaking of snipers, Anaheim is the employer of one of my favorite non-Capitals players, Teemu Selanne. Even in his elder years Selanne continues to be a dangerous scoring threat, and Pothier, Green and company are going to have to have him and Kunitz in their sights the entire game.

So, how do the Caps take a win here? Its going to be difficult, but if they can just stick to the format that they used against Dallas and Ottawa it should be a good match up. First off they have to continue to pressure on the PK. The more aggressive the Caps penalty killers have been against these highly skilled teams the more turnovers opportunities they have created, and possibly more importantly they aren’t allowing the other teams skaters to rest and recoup on the PP. Secondly they need to continue to get production from Semin, Pettinger and Beech. That line has really been the key in the last few games. Teams are not yet keyed into what a solid 2nd line has come together for the Caps. Finally, let the brawlers loose. Anaheim leads the league in fighting majors (the Caps are tied for 8th) and any game that trends tough and physical is a game the Caps have a chance of grabbing.

No predictions for me this week. Even Hockey Analysis is having a tough time committing to  this one.

I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see the Caps lined up against the league's #1 team and see a betting line that close.

Firefly is being made in to an MMO. *blink*