29 August, 2010

Fun Stuff and Odds & Ends

When I was in school (I think around 8th or 9th grade) one of the teachers (my friend John's mom) organized us to play Boomwhackers (plastic tubes which are designed to play a specific note when struck) and we performed "Joyful, Joyful." Today my my college West Civ teacher discovered them via the internet and posted some videos. One of them caught my eye, and so I give you Sabre Dance performed on Boomwhackers.



I know many of you are a trapped in the off-season lull, but I am already getting excited for the season. I can't wait for hockey to start. We already have the schedules out and soon the season will start. Being a fan from the distance isn't always (read: is never) easy, especially when I don't have fancy things like satellite TV or NHL Season Pass, but I love following the games. (I've mentioned before how I got the Flycast app for my phone so I can drive around listening to RJ calling the game even when I'm 4 hours away from Buffalo. 'Tis great!) I love that more of my fellow bloggers will have regular Sabres updates, and that feeling during the first few games that anything's possible, no matter what decisions, good, bad, or indifferent, were made during the off season. There's something about the start of the season which is full of hope, and I, for one, can't wait for everyone to get swept up it. That, to me, is a huge part of what being a fan is all about.

07 August, 2010

Where have I been?

Well I ought to have updated this several times since I last did, but I have excuses! At first I didn't want to talk about the olympics, then I got busy with school. Somewhere in there depression over the Sabres early departure kicked in, but I promise that I was working on a post before they dropped the series. Mix in a desperate need to find a new place to live then moving and starting my summer job and you get this far into the summer without hearing from me.

My summer has been good though. Just a couple brief thoughts -- I light the signing of Rob Neidermeyer (or however it's spelled) I think it will help even out the young bucks. Kaleta's settlement is a good thing and I'm glad that Darcy knows how to use arbitration. For those of you who have been under a bigger rock than I have been the Sabres took Kaleta to arbitration so no one else could sign him to a pricey offer sheet (a la Vanek) so we would have more time to negotiate a good contract. It seems all parties involved got what they wanted. I'm not sure how I feel about Kennedy getting waived, in part because I have not read anything about the situation. I have no thoughts on Jordan Leopold since I don't know much about him.