Hockey: The Irish win the Hall of Fame trophy

A few more pics.

Looks like the Irish have a very good hockey team. The took a 4-1 lead into the final few minutes of the game and even scored a short-handed goal. The Gophers made it interesting with a pair of goals in the last couple minutes but the Irish held on for a 4-3 win.

Irish at Minnesota hockey: Hall of Fame Game

In case anyone checks this blog, the Irish played Minnesota last week at the annual hall of fame game. Here are a few crappy cell phone shots from that game. Needless to say I had somewhat divided loyalty but I did wear my ND hat and was glad to see the Irish come away with a win.

Headdesk

"He realized too late that “there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects” when it comes to public works." - "The Education of President Obama", the New York Times Sunday Magazine.

Tactical error to admit that. Ugh.

Only in Minnesota

recent conversations I've had include:

at a gas station after a duck hunt the attendant says, "are you a hunter?" (I have dogs, a cased shotgun, decoys and ducks in the truck).
my reply "just damn you must be psychic"
answer, "no sir, you have dog snot on your windows and feathers in your hair."

at the same station a girl hears me talk and asks me where I'm from (keep in mind this is Boondoggle, MN). I tell her Georgia. Her answer:
"Oh Yah, say something Southern."
"Sumbitch."
(giggling) "oh, how cute!"

SEP

Beyond Palin: Assessing the Rest of the GOP Presidential Field

Time magazine looks into republican nominees for 2012 Beyond Palin: Assessing the Rest of the GOP Presidential Field . I'm fairly certain that Palin will not be on the ticket in 2012; her 15 minutes of fame were up 3 hours ago and now I wish she had been beheaded instead of that innocent turkey. Also, I think anyone with close religious ties doesn't have a shot in hell to make the ticket as the republican nominee, thereby eliminating my guy Mitt and Huckabee as well as various others. While I would wholeheartedly support a ticket that places Conde as the republican nominee (not mentioned in the article), I still believe that neither the Republican party nor the United States as a whole are ready for a woman president. Any woman that runs in the next 20 years is going to join the ranks with Hillary as another sacrificial lamb. Rice knows this and so does any politically minded woman who is a "serious human being." Jeb Bush is out...his brother took care of that one. Some of the other potential republican candidates may have a shot, but I don't think this article is all that serious. I think Time is throwing out names to test the waters. While most of you are vying for four more years of Obama, it doesn't hurt to think in the abstract. So, does anyone out there have any names they want to throw in the pot??? Perhaps, (even though I don't think Obama is going to run in 2012) you would like to see Obama (or whomever else is the democratic presidential candidate) debate? In other words, who are your ideal candidates for 2012?

Education Watch: even more crow-eating on the part of Jim

Well, one out of three ain't bad:

The largest union’s meeting opened here on Saturday to a drumbeat of heated rhetoric, with several speakers calling for Mr. Duncan’s resignation, hooting delegates voting for a resolution criticizing federal programs for “undermining public education,” and the union’s president summing up 18 months of Obama education policies by saying, “This is not the change I hoped for.”

“Today our members face the most anti-educator, anti-union, anti-student environment I have ever experienced,” Dennis Van Roekel, president of the union, the National Education Association, told thousands of members gathered at the convention center here.

The Most Armed States

The Daily Beast posted this survey, which details The Most Armed States. The survey is based on NICS background checks per 100,000 residents, which does not represent the total number of firearms sold within the state, as they make clear in the article. The fact that Texas does make the top 20 and Connecticut does, makes me wonder if the data has been accurately analyzed. Like so many statistical analyses this clearly appears to be an exercise in finding a way to represent data that is associated with much ambiguity.

Current Group Photo

I've uploaded the current group photo...for any and all who want it. Back row (left to right): Erin Daly, Vince Lombardo, Chris Nicholson, Rich Taylor, Joe Arico, Eric Stefan, Jeanette Young, Dan Honigfort, Claire Sokas; Front row (left to right): Matt Wilson, Lionel Nicolas, Grace Park.