Ten Years? Really?

For those that don't know, I graduated from the University of Cincinnati on Friday, June 13th, 2003. There are any number of reasons I happen to remember that date (mostly because it was Friday the 13th...seriously, who graduates their class on Friday the 13th--they couldn't have waited until Saturday?). It's kind of crazy to think I've stayed in one place this long. However, if you count my time at UC (UUUUUUU KNOW!), I've been here for over 10 years! Of course, that means...


le sigh...


...it's time for my 10yr reunion this weekend.


Oh, I'm not really scared, disappointed, or anything bad like that. It's just kind of crazy. My class (thankfully, I think) skipped its 5-year for whatever reason (I'm guessing Matt and Meagan were busy getting married, which I can definitely understand, having tied the knot myself), so for some of the folks in my 364-person class, this will be the first time I've seen them in a decade. A decade? Really? Think of just what's happened in the world in a decade...think of the famous folks who died, the fact that we've had three Presidents take office (and all the hilarity that ensues)...geez, too many things to think of otherwise! Point is, it's amazing to think of what happens in ten years and even funnier to think that I'll walk up to someone this weekend and say:

"So...what's been happening?"

Loaded question if I ever heard one.

Yay...I've been scammed!

Thought I'd throw this one out there for everyone. Just a warning.

Just today, I received a relatively unmarked envelope from Canada, of all places. Here's what I saw:

Now, in case you didn't get a good enough look at the check on the right, here it is:
If you read the letter closely, you'd see that apparently, Homelife Trust is offering me $25,000US and all I have to do is cash the check attached and send in $2500 to pay for taxes on my $25,000 which is supposedly part of a stimulus package (considering I already got the homebuyer's credit, that's more than a little odd). So...I get $2500 for nothing with the promise of about $20k more? In the words of mah homey Admiral Ackbar:




Basically, you can deposit the check, but eventually, the bank will figure out it's a fake and come after you for the full amount. Hopefully by that point, you a.) haven't spent any of your ill-gotten gains or b.) have not been stupid enough to actually send the jerkwads the $2500 to cover taxes. If you've done either or both, now you're out $5k and you've got no one to blame but yourself.

You have been warned.

"Top 10" of Sorts

Trying to break from my rule of car-only topics (hey, The Tick is running, and not much has changed), I'm going to break up what is normally the NHL off-season to talk about something I thought about while I was washing the dishes tonight. Those of you who have known me long enough know that I have been a hockey fan since my brother Lance started at Carnegie Mellon back around 1990. I'm not sure what I can exactly call the start of my love of hockey, but I'm guessing it was the combination of one of the coolest logos I've ever seen and the fact that, as a Gen Y kid, I am genetically doomed to take up whatever my Gen X brother thinks is cool.

Ok...that was one of the longest sentences I've seen quite awhile! Moving on.

What I want to talk about today is a list of my favorite players in NHL history. I'll preface this by saying that this is not a list of the greatest players ever. Several of the players had their glory days before I was really able to follow NHL coverage regularly and a lot of my memories are full more of rosy nostalgia than concrete numbers. To that point, all of the players on this list have played during my lifetime--sorry, Bobby Orr...

Oh yeah...Wayne Gretzky is NOT on this list. If that offends you, close this window and politely bugger off. He's just not one of my favorites and never will be. End of story.

On to the list!