The Germans in Finland

A great gallery of candid pics (probably taken by German soldiers) of German soldiers in Finland during WW2.

Kings game pic

Pregame skate taken with my cellphone camera from our seats at the Staples Center. No other pics because Noreen didn't think she could bring her camera into the Staples Center.

The trip up to LA to see the Kings & Ducks play the Wings

We had a back-to-back Red Wings trip this week, seeing the Wings clobber the Kings (3-0) and win a war against the Ducks (2-1.).

On Tuesday we drove up to LA in an off-again/on-again rainstorm. We checked into our hotel, Hotel Figueroa which was one block from the Staples Center (home of the Kings) in downtown LA. The hotel is decorated in a faux Moroccan/southwestern design and was a great hotel to stay at. We had "dinner" at the Staples center and watched the game from our killer seats. The Kings crowd was fun and we had a blast at the game. After the game, we went back to the hotel and had a nightcap at the hotel bar.

Wed was a bit more of an adventure. We had breakfast at a Denny's downtown, packed up and then headed over to Santa Monica and walked the 3rd Street Promenade and had lunch at the Kings Head, probably one of the best British pubs in California. Then, down to Anaheim. By this time, the rain was going pretty good and when we got to Anaheim, it was almost torrential. We stayed at a Hampton Inn for free (courtesy of my "frequent guest" points racked up when I worked at Cardinal) and the Hampton was a couple miles from the Honda Center. The usual drill is to park at the Honda Center, go to a bar that's across the street from the Pond (that's the old name for it) and have a pregame dinner/beer then walk over. Well, because of the rain, we just went straight to the Honda Center. It was raining like crazy still and got a little bit wet despite our umbrella. Our seats were way up in the nosebleed section but still a good view. The Ducks fans are much rowdier (though, I suspect that most of them are bandwagon fans, which is OK, because last time I went to a Ducks/Wings game, it looked like a Wings home game with all of the red & white in the stands). After the game, back to the hotel and then home on Thurs.

It was a fun trip to take!

Pics from the Wings trip

Roadking wants to go on the trip, too.

Noreen holding up the jersey at the Honda Center (Anaheim Pond) before the game.

During the game, taken with Noreen's camera.

Us in the stands taken by the people sitting in front of us.

What is "causing" our problems in Iraq?

Set the Wayback Machine to 1919 and the Versailles Treaty.

A very interesting read from the author of a book about the Versailles treaty and the mess it left us.

The music

You've heard it a billion times in a billion different places. Now, here's a video of it. The Opening from O Fortuna:

Do Cholesterol drugs work?

Well, it depends on your definition of "work"....Businessweek has a great (but long)article about cholesterol drugs. I'm on Vytorin and yes, my cholesterol went from 257 to approx 170. But did it do any real good?

7th Graders Are Stupid

This blog post points out how illiterate/stupid they really are.

"Is our children learning?"

Most definitely NOT.

On this date in 1919....

The Boston Molasses Disaster. A 2 million gallon tank of molasses collapsed and flooded a section of Boston, killing 21.

"I'm so alive! I'm so alive"

The greatest words ever spoken on TV. Ever. And, the most prescient.

viedo.

And 10,000 horse power. And, an amazing crash.