Jared’s Blog

Thanks to Louie for bringing this one to my attention. Apparently last Saturday night, some man tried to rob a local grocery store dressed as a ninja! Full on, ninja garb including the sword and what looks like a pair of Ugg boots. No one got hurt so I have no qualms about laughing my ass off.

As I’ve mentioned previously, my iPod is becoming less and less reliable. Just yesterday, I was driving home and it decided to freeze on me. Often times to fix it requires connecting it to my computer at home, so when this happens at work, I’m music-less for the rest of the day. During those times, I’ve resorted to using services such as Pandora, last.fm, and iTunes internet radio.

There’s a lot of stations in iTunes by default, but none of them really play any of the metal I like to listen to. As a result, I find myself listening to the Electronica stations quite a bit. House, Trace, Progressive, whatever. It’s the type of music you don’t have to pay attention to. If you space out and miss part of a song or even a whole song, it’s no big deal. I also find it helps me focus more on my work tasks when I’m not singing or following along (like I would if I had my iPod).
I have to give credit to one of my ex’s for getting me into this kind of stuff. Once she left one of her CD’s in my dorm room and I checked it out just to see what it was. I believe it was Paul Oakenfold’s Tranceport. It’s pretty cool because the whole CD just melts from one song into the next. I guess she was good for something other than cheating on me.

As a hockey fan, I tend to follow what is going on in the NHL pretty closely and the last few weeks have brought no shortage of news. In fact, I’d go so far to say the league is in some pretty deep trouble. It may not be the kind of trouble we saw with the CBA just a short while ago, but it is serious.

Pittsburgh is still debating whether or not they want to stick around town. A deal for a new stadium was proposed by the city and rejected. Honestly, I can’t blame them for wanting to move, but it’d be a crime to see that city without a professional hockey team especially with the history the Penguins have in Pittsburgh. The latest place I’ve heard is Houston. Please, no! I understand that the NHL is just as much of a business as it is a sport, but it kills me to see all these teams heading to southern markets.

There’s been talk of schedule changes and divisional realignment. The argument being the West has to travel farther and more often and this business of playing divisional opponents gets old quick. I don’t really have an opinion about the travel issues as that’s really more for the players, coaches, and personnel to decide. I can see the issue though. People don’t want to be away from their families if they don’t have to and it’s always nice to sleep at home instead of in a hotel bed. As far as schedule changes go, I fully agree there needs to be something done. Seeing the same teams over and over gets boring unless there’s some fierce rivalry. The hope was this schedule would make for more divisional rivalries, but I don’t think it’s doing the job. Rivalries are made in the playoffs. Why does Minnesota hate Vancouver so much? Because of the things players said when they met in the 2003 playoffs. Apparently the decision was made to stick with the current schedule through next season because no one could decide on an alternative. That’s a bullshit excuse!

Lastly are new jerseys. They were unveiled today and will be worn at the All-Star game tomorrow. They aren’t honestly as bad as I was thinking when I read about the changes. The thing is, I like how hockey jerseys currently fit. They’re comfortable. It’s my understanding that this is the sentiment of most of the players too. Why not keep the same shape and just use these new moisture retardant fabrics? I mean look at what happened to the NBA’s new balls. They made it, what, 3 months? I see the same sort of thing happening with these new jerseys. And you know as soon as the new jerseys are on sale, they’re going to sell like hotcakes because fans want to stay current. My biggest gripe is that 3rd jerseys are going away. I haven’t seen any confirmation of it, but I read and article from an Ottawa paper that stated as much. Shameful.

Save for the situation in Pittsburgh, I think these problems can be squarely placed on the shoulders of Mr. Commish, Gary Bettman. His “vision” for the NHL isn’t working and I think it’s time for some new leadership. From now on, in my right hand will be an “Impeach Bush” sign and in the left, will be an “Impeach Bettman” sign. The NHL isn’t more exciting these days, there are just more penalties, lower intensity, and more monotony. Something has gotta give.

Update: It looks like I’m not the only one who sees trouble on the horizon for the NHL. Mr. Aronow, I agree with you an all points except the removal of fighting.

I’ve found yet another who is equally displeased.

Justin and I got up early and left Jamaica today. On one hand, I don’t want to leave because it means that I have to go back to work and my regular life. On the other hand, I don’t think I can handle much more non-stop partying.

Yesterday was another laid back day and yet another party after the sun went down. Kristi, Rick, Justin, and I grabbed some breakfast in the morning and then went to the pool and hot tub for the afternoon. The rest of the crew went on their tour of Dunn’s River Falls, while Justin and I stayed behind.

While we were lounging, one of the “Playmakers” came up to us and asked if we wanted to play some water volleyball. We told her no, and apparently so did the other few people around the pool. Then she asked if we wanted to play a board game instead. We agreed and she went off to find one. I’m not sure how it works, but there was some points system for participating in activities that you could turn in for prizes. Anyway, the reason I mentioned all that was because Justin and I decided we were going to pretend we were Andy and Hank so that we could get them points since we didn’t have any and we were leaving the next day. Long story short, we pulled it off and Candice was none the wiser. There were a few times I almost called Justin by his real name.

The rest of the crew was still gone on their party boat, so I took the time to do some gift shopping for my family. I was expecting to spend much more of my money, so I figured I could get the family a few things. I’ll refrain from saying what I got them because I want it to be a surprise.

Next Justin and I killed some time with some drinks by the ocean until the party boat came back to port. It wasn’t too long before we saw the lights in the distance. By the time they reached the dock and everyone got off the boat, it was after dark. Rick, Kristi, Justin, and I headed out for dinner at a place I hadn’t been to yet. I figure I hadn’t had a steak yet, so I got the one with jerk sauce. Boy was it tasty! I didn’t have a bite of bad food the whole time I was in Jamaica. All-inclusive is the way to go.

We spent the rest of the night chilling out by the bar. Justin met up with this dude from Canada he was arguing with the first day we were there. Justin’s argument was that the US is a larger landmass than Canada. I don’t believe him, and neither did anyone else. It was hilarious to watch the drunk guys go back and forth though.

And that was pretty much the rest of my vacation. This morning, we had to get up real early to make it to the airport in time. There’s not much to say about that; travel time is boring time. I think the airlines should just drug you while you’re flying and wake you up when it’s time to land. It’d be so much easier.

If weddings are one hell of a party, then Caribbean weddings are a freakin throw down. As predicted, the weather cleared up in the morning and it was perfect the rest of the day. In the morning, Justin and I went to breakfast with the Burns’ and then chilled out in the hot tub and pool in the early afternoon. At 3, we all gathered at the beach for the wedding ceremony. We were there for maybe an hour and 50 minutes of that was taking pictures. Speaking of pictures, I snapped a bunch from the wedding and they came out great. I’ll be posting them to Flickr shortly. The wedding itself was very simple. Just a dozen of us on the beach, a minister, and a photographer. Those of us observing weren’t able to hear the minister, Laura, or Hank so well, but then again it really wasn’t for us to hear.

While Hank and Laura went and got some more pictures, the rest of us hung out at one of the bars by the oceanfront. Once we all were together, we walked over to San Genaro, one of the restaurants on the resort. I enjoyed the most entertaining dinner I’ve ever had. Caroline, Laura’s friend, had made friends with a few of the staff at some point during our stay and those three just happened to be waiting on us at the restaurant. They kept our drinks, plates, and tummies full. It was a crime to not be able to tip them, but I think Caroline was going to see if we could work something out with the management.

The rest of the night was one giant party. We made our way to a couple different bars, then to Hank and Laura’s room. Sandals gave them a cake and bottle of champagne. It was a perfect time to smoke the Cuban cigar I had picked up earlier in the day. It was so big, 3 of us didn’t even finish it all.

The group capped off our night at a the discotheque. The only reason I went was for Hank and Laura. I don’t like dancing, I can’t stand any of the music they played, and I didn’t have anyone to dance with anyway. There was only 4 other people outside our group and everyone was paired up in couples. I didn’t much feel like dancing with Justin and I’m positive the feeling was mutual. Rick, Kristi, Justin, and I bounced early and went to the grill for a late night snack.

Yesterday was very much a standard vacation day. Wake up late, sit by the pool, and relax. I was very pleased that I wasn’t burned to a crisp in the hot sun. Sadly, I had so much sunscreen on, that the only place that got any real color was my feet. I’ve yet to go out for a nice meal. While at the pool, I just snacked or grabbed something from the little grill they have near one of the pools. Other than that I’ve only been to one of the restaurants and it was one of the less-than-fancy ones. I’m content with that, but I want to go to one of the nicer places at least once.

Today is the day of Hank and Laura’s wedding. It has been raining off and on all morning, but I think that is pretty typical around here. Rain in the morning, sun for the rest of the day. Hopefully things aren’t too wet by 3 o’clock when the wedding takes place. If it clears up, I’m sure it’ll be dream-like. As I write this, the sun is starting to come through the clouds, so I think things will work out. I don’t have any duties in the wedding other than to just show up. I think maybe I’ll go get a Cuban cigar to enjoy with Hank after the ceremony.

This place really is gorgeous. I don’t think I can mention that enough. You see postcards, pictures, or videos on TV and you think that this place looks really nice, but being here is on a whole other level. It’s hard to describe so I think I’ll just leave it at that. I haven’t done too much picture taking because it’s kind of hard to keep track of a camera while you’re in the pool all day. With the beach wedding, I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities.