Spouse and I went for some lunch to a little burger and sub shop in St. George yesterday. I took a picture of the sign out front (depicted in the photograph below):
I’m not sure what utility there is in a mass transit vehicle that is twelve inches in length; but you really can’t beat the price.
The work continues here in Juniorvania; we have completed our work on the eastern front, and have begun focussing our efforts to the north (the front of the house). My entire body aches, and as soon as I am done at the keyboard, I am going to go put a bottle of Motrin in a bowl, pour some milk over the pile of tablets, and eat them like Rice Krispies. I spent the better part of today’s work session cutting out the numerous stumps from various trees and shrubs in the eastern portion of the front garden (most, if not all, of which were cut down long before we got here). As a result of these labours, I am now prepared to swear an affidavit to the effect that the reciprocating saw is, without a shadow of a doubt, the greatest of man’s inventions. The wheel, though sporty and sure to attract a lot of buzz, runs a distant second to the blessed miracle of the reciprocating saw.
On an unrelated note, I must again marvel at Mike‘s diligence and industry: though he is on vacation and travelling afield, he has nonetheless managed to continue to post daily. I think I will excuse myself now and go make myself a dunce cap and sit in the corner for a while; he makes me look very, very bad by comparison.
Tomorrow night, we are off to see the Ticats/Stampeders game at Ivor Wynne. It’s the Cats’ last home game of another lost season. I am getting used to a lot of losing – Spouse and I (courtesy of Joe) were down to the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Tuesday night to see the Leafs defeated (in a shootout) by the Anaheim (don’t call us Mighty) Ducks. It was an interesting enough game; the Leafs were awful in the first period, so awful that we witnessed one of hockey’s greatest rarities: George Parros scored on a breakaway. No, that’s not a typo. The notably mustachioed habitual pugilist was the benefactor of a communication breakdown between Leaf defencemen Tomas Kaberle and (rookie) Luke Schenn. Still, getting the breakaway is one thing, but actually putting the biscuit in the bucket is quite another. I don’t think George’s mom has ever seen him score on a breakaway, even in road hockey. Anyway, I suspect some choice profanities were uttered by Ron Wilson in the Maple Leaf locker room during the first intermission, as the team was wholly different in the second and third stanzas. Antropov tucked a rebound home in the second to draw the Leafs to within one, and they pressed throughout the third for the tying marker, failing to click on a 38-second 5-on-3 advantage. When the Ducks iced the puck with about a minute to go, though, I turned to Spouse and said I felt the Leafs were going to tie the game. Not fifteen seconds later, they did. Overtime solved nothing, so the game went to a shootout, unfortunately for the Leafs (they’ve been terrible at this aspect of the new NHL since its inception). Curiously, Wilson chose to pull Toskala (who’s 0-2 in shootouts already this year) and insert Curtis Joseph. Tough assignment for Cujo; he had to have had more than a little trouble getting ready to face the first shooter, having sat on the bench and opened the door for his mates for the previous two and a half hours. The first Anaheim shooter? Teemu Selanne (gulp). CuJo whiffed on Teemu’s quick wrist shot and got beaten by a Corey Perry deke, while both Leaf shooters missed the net; game over.
On the Ticat front, as mentioned above, it’s been another lost season. The Ticats were only recently officially eliminated from the (highly egalitarian and scrupulously inclusive) CFL playoffs, but in reality it’s been a foregone conclusion since around the August long weekend. Cat fans are focussing on the new QB in town, Quinton Porter. He’s shown some poise and a great arm while standing in for an injured Casey Printers. Porter seems to have developed some chemistry with his wideouts, something Printers has seemed unable to do. Suddenly, Prechae Rodriguez seems all-World at times and Scott Mitchell has also managed to make some great catches with Porter on the field. The young QB has played well enough to set up a bona fide QB controversy brewing by the time training camp starts next summer. I am hoping to take my camera, and my 800 mm lens to the game tomorrow night. I’d like to try to get some good close-up shots of the players, and try my hand at sports action photography. As for the outcome of the game, I anticipate watching a lot of Stampeder touchdowns tomorrow – as well as Porter has gotten the offence going at times, the Cat defence, especially the secondary, seems prone to coughing up huge passing plays. I am sure that Calgary QB Henry Burris is grinning like a Cheshire cat in anticipation this evening, and has found that he just can’t stop rubbing his hands together.