BU drops a close one, that no one saw

The only people to actually see this game happen were the people and players in side Gutterson Field hose.  Why might you ask? Well you should already know but, you should have bean watching the USA, Canada game! If you don't know by now, Canada won in overtime, when Sidny Crosby beat Ryan Miller to give Canada the gold.

Well back to the BU part of the afternoon.

BU got on the board firs, when Colby Cohen took a bomb from the blue line that beat Vermont goaltender, Rob Madore.

The Catamounts came back and tied it when Brayden Irwin got a feed from Drew MacKenzie on the power play.

BU would have the last say in the first and it also turned out to be their last goal of thegame. Luke Poko picked up a bouncing puck in the slot and through it on goal. Madore never saw it giving BU the 2-1 advantage headed into the locker room.

Vermont would get another power play goal, this coming off the stick of Colin Vock.

The Catamounts would take the game in the final minutes of the third when,  Josh Burrows beat Millin glove side with a wrist shot.  

Game 22 (28Feb10)

Was that a hockey game or what!?White 12 - Dave P, George, Dave G, Edwin, Imran, Jordano, Chris S (Goalie - wall side)Black 10 - Ahsan, Jimmy, Claudio, Leo, Rocky, Mauro, Peter K (Goalie - bleacher side)In a fiesty game, Team White outduelled the Blacks. This was a fast-paced game that started positively for Team Black. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead but White's tenacity paid off. Dave P, Dave G

First Round of ECAC Playoffs

(12) Clarkson @ (5)SLU

(11)Brown @ (6)RPI

(10)Harvard @ (7)Quinnipiac

(9)Dartmouth @ (8)Princeton

Byes: Yale (1), Cornell (2), Union (3), Colgate (4)

For an in-depth analysis of who the Dutchmen can play in the quarterfinals of the playoffs check out Union Hockey Maniac's (aka Will Friedman) post on the USCHO.com forum.

The Starr Curse Lives On

After last night's 5-2 loss at Colgate the
Dutchmen are now 1-17-1 at Colgate. Surprisingly this year's seniors have not won a game at Starr Rink, which is the least intimidating rink in the ECAC. The crowd is always dead and no one even goes to the games. Maybe the problem is going from Lynah to Starr and how different the environments are. Either way losing two games in a row is not how you want to head into the playoffs, but the Dutchmen have a bye which will give them some time to think everything over and get their heads on straight.

Once again, congratulations to Mario Valery-Trabucco on his program record 21st goal of the season. Mario is the MVP of the team this year and is one of the top forwards in the ECAC (along with Chase Polacek, Brock Little and Sean Backman just to name a few). He is a legitimate Hobey Baker and All-American candidate. Also, Mario's linemate Jason Walters is one point away from tying the program's career point record (114, Jordan Webb).

This weekend does bring up some concern for the playoffs. First and most importantly is goaltending. Keith Kinkaid has not stepped up when he has really needed to. He, nor Corey Milan, have stolen a game for the Dutchmen even though they have had some very good games. Goaltending is the most important factor for any playoff teams as hot goaltending will prevail above everything in the playoffs. This also brings up another concern which is the amount of breakaways allowed by the Union defense. It seems like almost every game the opposition gets at least one breakaway opportunity. Also, even though there is no official statistic, it seems like Kinkaid has trouble with breakaways. Finally, it is a bit worrisome that 'Super' Mario scored two of Union's three goals this weekend (the other goal coming from Kyle Bodie). Union played two Top 4 ECAC teams this past weekend and were only able to score three goals. Offense is the strength of this team and will have to continue to be if they want to be successful in the playoffs.

We now have two weeks for Union Hockey to return, and I'm sure it will feel longer than that. Hopefully this extra time will give the Dutchmen some time to relax and tie up some loose ends. If all the top seeds win their first round playoff games Union will face RPI in the quarterfinals, which will be a very energized and exciting series. I'm not excited about this potential matchup because it is very difficult to beat a team five times in one season, especially a rival. Also, all of the regualr season games this season have been extremely tight and could have gone either way.

For more on last night's game check out Ken Schott's Blog, Union Athletics.com, Daily Gazette.com, and USCHO.com.

♥ (HELP) which one a better foundation? ♥

I almost ran out of make up foundation & getting a new one soon.
but I wanna try something new~~ but still not sure what brand should I get?
I have been using Liquid MAC Mineralize Satinfinish Foundation foreveeer now.
I like them especially the yellow undertone color on me but I'm still not 100% perfectly satisfied with the results. :(

I have tried Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation.
But I HATE the color on me. It makes my face looks a bit pale & the pinkish undertone is deff not my favorite. :(
I got them in Medium Ivory, it was probably either too fair or too dark for me.

I have also try CLINIQUE Perfectly Real Makeup in True Beige but I also hate the color on me.
It was again, either too fair or too dark for me. :(

I'm looking for my holy grail foundation. 
I have a very dry skin, I don't have many acnes so I don't really need a full coverage but I do have a bit pores & bit of imperfection this and there so I still want the medium coverage with a natural look.
I'd love to get the luminous dewy flawless kind of result. 
It's one of the most important standard for my HG foundation other than finding the perfect color.
I also need to find a perfect color foundation, so far NC35 is the colosest to perfect I've ever got.
I don't like the pinkish color undertone, I like yellow undertone better. But of course not too yellow.

soooo please, anybody, help me to find my HG foundation??


I've been thinking of getting any of this..

Bobbi Brown Luminous Moisturizing Foundation

I'm interested because the foundation supposedly gives a luminous glowing result & moisturize my skin in the same time. It also have the anti-aging formula. The color result suppose to look very natural or sheer coverage that won't makes my face looks 'cakey'.

Should I get this??

 

Chanel Pro Lumiere Foundation

the 'holy grail' foundation for many people. but is it really worth it? 

It's really expensive though, almost double price more than MAC! :(

but if its really that good, I would buy them for the quality.

this foundation promise to gives a 'dewy' result, that's why I'm interested in it.

Should I get this??

Make Up For Ever HD Foundation

one the most popular foundation out there.

should I get this??

or if you have a more better suggestion. I'd love to know.

thankssss~~ ^^

love.love ♥♥

Union loses important game at Cornell

Well, all hopes of making it into the National Tournament are smashed with the loss to Cornell. Union is now on the outside looking in the PWR in a tie for 18th. I don't know if it's possible for the Dutchmen to jump back into the Top 16, but it is possible something drastic will probably have to happen.

From what people have been saying and from looking at the box score it seems like Union played a good game, but Cornell was opportunistic and had a great defense. The Big Red scored on their only man-advantage last night and only threw 15 shots at Keith Kinkaid. This sounds exactly like what Cornell Hockey has been for years, and this is why I feel they are the best team in the ECAC. Yes, Yale has the top offense in the nation (4.29 goals per game), but Cornell has the second best defense in the nation (2.11 goals allowed per game) and most of the time a great defense will beat a great offense. And this why I predict that Cornell will win the ECAC tournament and each game they will play from the quarterfinals on will be by the scores of 2-1 or 3-2.

Union will finish in third place in the ECAC this season, no matter what happens tonight. But, it is very important that the Dutchmen pick up a win so they can head into the playoffs on a high note, and so they can break the Starr Curse.

Also, congratulations to 'Super' Mario Valery-Trabucco who broke Jordan Webb's program record for most goals in a career. Mario's lone goal last night was the 56th of his career. He is also just one goal away from breaking Union's single season record for goals in a season. He currently has 20.

For more on last night's game check out Ken Schott's Blog, Union Athletics.com, Daily Gazette.com, Times Union.com, and post-game interviews courtesy of Ken Schott.

Cats are all over BU

 Vermont gets three first period goals and never look's back 

Just 4:22 into the game Vermont took the lead, when Chris McCarthy took a rister that looked to o in but actually hit where the cross bar and the post meet. Before Millan new what happened, a waiting Josh Burrows pushed it in and the Cats where off and running.

Later in the first Vermont would up their lead to two, as Brayden Irwin found the puck in the slot and made a great move on Millan, where he was able to pull the puck back with his forehand and then go to his back hand and beat the flopping BU goaltender.

BU would cut the lead to one, after Zach Cohen popped in a rebound, giving him his 12 goal of the season.

Vermont, though, had an answer, when Brain Roloff took a shot that Millan made a poor play on, resulting in a huge rebound. Tobias Nelson-Roos was there to put it in. 3-1 Vermont after one.
Vermont, through some more gas on the fire, when John Higgins through a shot on Millan that looked to be a good stop. Turns out that the puck was still lose, Brett Leonard poked Millans glove and the puck slid over the goal line.  

BU on the power play, found some life, as David Warsofsky scored cutting the lead to 4-2. This was one of only two shots that Rob Madore saw the whole period. Vermont tallied a total of 21 shot on Millan in the second frame alone.

Roloff, found some spare lighter fluid and through that onto, when he pulled off a wrap a round.
Vinny Saponari would net the third and final goal for BU. This goal also came on the power play.
Vermont would fine the back of the net two more times and one came on a five on three man advantage and the other was an empty net goal.

With the loss, BU falls back to 14-14-3 and in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Hockey East standings.

As you can tell Parker was no to impressed with his team's effort

“The focus, the speed, the attention to detail, the physical play from the team in black as opposed to the team in white was like night and day,” Boston University head coach Jack Parker said. “ We weren’t ready to play, we masked it at times during the course of the game but in general, they out-fought us for every puck.”


BU and Vermont will sake again Sunday after noon at 3:00. The game can be seen on ESPNU. Just letting every one know that this is the same time as the gold medal game, USA vs. Canada, if you did not know that is very, very sad!!!!!

Matrix suffers some bad breaks!

So not only has this been the worst winter southern california has seen in years with all the rain, but when it rains it pours! As I posted in the last entry our own Bailey had broken her thumb. Well, last week we suffered two more broken bones, when Tayler broke her foot, and Stevi broke a toe. Both breaks were very minor and both girls are expected to be back on their feet relatively quickly. Some good news though, Bailey has gotten her cast off and is cleared to play! She was at hitting on Thursday and showed that she never missed a beat! She was swinging and hitting like a champ!

the three injured!

Due to the bad weather Matrix has been missing out on sufficient practice. Combined with limited field availability we have definitely been put through the wringer! I think the girls heads are high though and they all seem to be doing what we ask of them on late notice. In an attempt to teach the girls competitiveness we came up with some interesting drills to see what they had in them. Below is a video clip of one of the drills we had them do. No worries, no one was hurt during the filming of this video!

We are scheduled to play in the USSSA tournament in San Pedro in the month of March, will be in Palm Springs for Triple Crown in April and then its off to Vegas for a tournament the month of May! We look forward to the continued success of the girls!

As a last note, we have two military families on the team and are sad to see our two guys go. Both will be deployed within the next couple weeks and we'd like to say thank you for your service to our country and we all look forward to your safe and speedy return!

Dutchmen finish regular season at Cornell and Colgate

As everyone expected, the seeding for the top spot in the ECAC playoffs has come down to this weekend. Tonight's game at Cornell is a huge one as both the Big Red and Dutchmen are tied for second place. Colgate is also looking to get a first round bye so expect them to come out flying on Saturday night. Here are some players to keep a tab on this weekend:

Mario Valery-Trabucco (Union): he's only one goal for breaking Union's all-time goals record. Mario is also currently leading the online voting for the Hobey Baker Award.

Jeremy Welsh (Union): the big freshman has scored four goals in his past six games. Cornell has very big defensemen so maybe Welsh will be able to neutralize them.

Riley Nash (Cornell): the junior has registered a point in his past five games, four of which have been multi-point games. In these five games he has tallied three goals and eight assists for 11 points.

Blake Gallagher (Cornell): the senior forward leads the team with 17 goals and 32 points. He has also registered a goal in his past five weekends, including one on a Tuesday night game against Colgate.

Colin Greening (Cornell): this other senior forward has been carrying a hot stick of late as he has scored a goal in five of his past six games. Over this six game span he has totalled six goals and three assists.

Ben Scrivens (Cornell): the senior goaltender is the top goaltender in the ECAC and is one of the top five, statistically in the nation. He sports a 2.07 GAA and a .928 save percentage.

David McIntyre (Colgate): the senior captain is second on the team with 34 points and is tied for first with 24 assists (second in ECAC). McIntyre has registered a point in eight out of his last 10 games, including a point in each of his last five games. Last season he was one of the top players in the ECAC with 21 goals and 22 assists.

Brian Day (Colgate): leads the team with 20 goals (third in ECAC) and is currently riding a four game goal scoring streak. He has also picked up three assists in that span.

It should be a fun and exciting weekend. For more on the games check out: Concordy.com, Union Athletics.com, Daily Gazette.com, and INCH.com.

North Stars host Motor City for pair

The last time the Traverse City North Stars and Motor City Metal Jackets met up, the Stars skated into Yack Arena two weeks ago riding a 10-1-2 post-Christmas mark, firmly entrenched in the NAHL North Division’s top spot.

The host Metal Jackets scored a pair of one-goal, come-from-behind victories in that series, precipitating a four-game slide for TC that has the North Division title up for grabs with a dozen games left in the regular season.

The North Stars, who enter the weekend tied for first place with the Marquette Rangers and just three points up on third-lace Janesville, will have a chance to regain their momentum and exact some measure of revenge on the Metal Jackets when the clubs meet up for a Friday-Saturday series at Centre ICE this weekend.

“I’m not sure that we’ll have ‘revenge’ on the agenda,” said Stars head coach-GM Anthony Palumbo. “But if there’s some of that sentiment among the guys and that helps us to get it done this weekend, that’s fine. We’re at that part of the season, especially given how tight the division is, where every game has to be the focus – and then the next game, and the next game, and so on.

“We can’t get caught up watching the scoreboard, or waiting for someone to help us out by knocking off this team or that team. We have to take care of what we can control, and that’s playing 60 minutes with maximum energy, effort, and execution.”

Since sweeping Traverse City back on Feb. 12-13, the Jackets have dropped five straight games, scoring but four goals in that stretch. Motor City is 19-21-7, and trying to put the clamps on the fourth and final playoff slot in the NAHL North, seven points ahead of fifth-place Alpena.

R.J. Kleiman leads the Jackets with 40 points in 47 contests, including a team-high 17 goals and 23 assists. Cody Wydo has 15 goals and 17 assists, while defenseman Mike Monfredo is the top-scoring Motown defenseman, with 18 assists to go with a club-high 125 penalty minutes. In net, Motor City as three able goalsweeps in Randy Willis (9-8-5), Jason Torf (7-10-2) and Phillip Graveline (3-3-0).

For Traverse City, Doug Clifford leads the way with 43 points (19 goals, 24 assists) and has scored or assisted in 11 of his last 12 games. Garrett Thompson has been ablaze as well, with 10 points in his last eight games, points in 16 of his last 18 outings, and a career-best 20 goals on the year to go with 21 assists. Not to be outdone, Dan Radke, with a Stars-high 25 assists, has 12 points over his last 13 contests.

Drew Strandberg (17-7-1) made his return from injury to the Traverse City net last weekend against Janesville and is five wins shy of tying the club mark for wins in a season (C.J. Motte, 22), while Chris Paliafito (6-6-2) shouldered the entire load in Strandberg’s absence.

The North Stars will head to Marquette next weekend for a pair of games that could go a long way in deciding the North Division crown, and host a pair of Wednesday affairs on March 10 (Alpena) and March 17 (Motor City).

Weekend Preview: BU @ Vermont

Yet again, this weekend could decide the the fate of not only the Terriers but the team the are playing, this time BU will take on The University of Vermont for a pair of games up there. Do to Hockey East being such a tight race, BU will look to take two from the Catamounts and rocket them in to a posable tie for second with Boston College. Vermont on the other hand, sits in 9th and will look to move up and tie BU in the standings (24 points) by taking two games.

Looking at UVM
Though Vermont played well in the first half of the year the have cooled off and now sit in 9th in Hockey East and out of  a playoff position. They also have only won one of their last 8 games but have tied four of them including last Saturday night, as they skated to a 3-3 draw with UNH. Playing at home in both of the games will help but I think that BU is two hot right now and will not lose a game in this series.

The last time they met....
was in late November. The Catamounts got two quick goals in the first but then BU battled back to tie the game with about 3 minutes left. Corey Trivino was the one who scored the game tieing goal.

Former Captain Matt Cook featured

Matt Cook, a co-captain for the Dutchmen last season, has been featured in a Quad Cities Publication. Cook is currently playing for the Quad City Mallards of the IHL. The article focuses on his family and how he is a perfect combination of athletic talent and brains. You an access the article here.

Two big tournaments are taking place this weekend, the Cathedral City Classic (hosted by Oregon State in the Palm Springs, California area, beginning today) and the NFCA Leadoff Classic (in Columbus, Georgia, beginning Friday). Roughly speaking, the Cathedral City Classic will be featuring the best teams from the western half of the U.S., whereas the NCFA Leadoff Classic will showcase the best teams from the eastern half.

Schofield getting recognized with Jets

The casual observer might not notice Metro Jets’ defenseman Tyler Schofield, but if that happens, that’s a good thing.

Schofield, one of just a handful of second-year Metro players, has seen his game mature from last season when he looked tentative and hesitant at times. He’s now a confident skater in his own end and plays an ever-improving smart game.

“I feel good this season compared to last season,” said Schofield, an 18-year-old from Clio. “I feel a lot more confident with the puck and I think I have more patience than last year. I haven’t accomplished everything I would have hoped for, but it’s still been a good year.”

Those thoughts were echoed by Metro coach Ryan Skop.

“I think last year when he first started with us, he was a bit unsure of himself and his ability,” Skop said. “He could do some things pretty well, but just didn't have the confidence to make it work. This year, I think Tyler's really found a role that he's comfortable with and he does it very well.”

Just 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, Schofield will never be mistaken for a big physical presence on the back end, but what he does do is make very good decisions with the puck.

“I’m not a big, strong guy, so I feel it makes me have to play smarter,” Schofield said. “I think my strengths are my vision. I see the ice pretty well and I feel I have good hands, which also help me a lot.”

Skop explained Schofield’s smarts.

“He's a guy who, when given the chance, can really settle our power play unit down and generate some quality chances by simply making the right decision with the puck,” added Skop. “He'll make a good first pass out of our end and for the most part, be in position defensively. He's accepted the fact that quite often, the best play is simply glass and out. He has no problem with that. Keeping it simple defensively is Schoey’s biggest asset.”

Heading into the offseason, Schofield will have a full slate of spring and summer training to get him ready for wherever he may land in 2010-2011.

“During the offseason, I plan on working out and getting stronger,” said Schofield. “I also need to work on my speed, so I plan on doing a lot of quick feet and such for that and try and make myself a better player.”

“For Ty, his focus should be getting to the gym and improving his strength during the offseason,” Skop said. “He's got all the tools between the ears to be a real impact guy at this level and now, it's just about improvement on other areas.

“Ty's a hard worker, though, and I'm sure he'll get it done.”

LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD

The Dubuque Thunderbirds jumped out to a 4-0 lead and held on to beat the Jets, 4-3, Friday night at Lakeland Arena.

Dubuque led 2-0 after the first period and 4-2 after 40 minutes as Steve Lockwood and Mike Denston tallied for the Jets to make it a two-goal game going into the final period.

Brett Grech scored at 18:27 of the third period with goalie Ian Mercer on the bench for the extra skater, but Metro couldn't find the equalizer.

Mercer finished with 28 stops between the pipes and Lockwood and Grech each added an assist to finish with two-point games.

The Jets (10-30-0-4) are on the road this weekend for a pair in St. Louis. Metro then closes out the regular season next weekend by hosting Pittsburgh for two games at Lakeland.

St. Louis clinched the CSHL regular season championship last weekend and also secured a berth in the Tier III Junior A national tournament set for next month in suburban Boston.

Remaining games on ’09-10 schedule:
Feb. 27 @ St. Louis
Feb. 28 @ St. Louis
March 6 vs. Pittsburgh
March 7 vs. Pittsburgh

JET FUEL

Of Lockwood’s three goals this season, two have come on the power play … Grech has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) over his last 10 games … Mercer has averaged almost 32 saves in his last five starts and also ranks third in the league in minutes played with 1708:50.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Former Metro forward Dominic Osman (2000-2001) started the season with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye and posted 12 goals and 22 points in 47 games before being traded recently to the Florida Everblades.

With Florida, the 28-year-old Dearborn native is averaging a point per game with three goals and three assists in a half-dozen games.

Photo by Andy Grossman

D-man Schmitz stepping up for Plymouth

Generally, Plymouth Whalers defenseman Beau Schmitz doesn’t say much, but his game and talent speaks volumes.

Statistically, there are defensemen in the Ontario Hockey League who have more points than Schmitz’s eight goals and 22 assists for 30 points this season. There are d-men who have a better rating than Schmitz’s +12. There are plenty of guys who are bigger than Schmitz.

But there aren’t too many players in the league who skate as well as Schmitz. And with a year of OHL experience under his belt, Schmitz is learning to pick his spots when to join the rush and when to stay back.

As a result, he’s playing with confidence, getting more ice time, having fun and helping the Whalers win.

“I think I’m moving up more on the rush, in a smart way – instead of being the first guy leading the rush, I’m more the third or fourth guy in the rush,” Schmitz said. “It’s an improvement I’ve made over the last year.

“There’s a time and a place for everything, so if I do jump into the rush, I certainly have to get back.”

Plymouth associate coach Joe Stefan appreciates Schmitz’s development.

“I think he’s grown up this year, in terms of maturity,” Stefan said. “He’s become accustomed to the league this year. It took him a little while, coming from the National Team Development Program. I think he’s more comfortable in the environment this year.”

With veteran defensemen Michal Jordan and Josh Bemis out with injuries and considered day-to-day, the Whalers have asked more from Schmitz and the rest of the defensemen.

“With our current injuries, Beau has taken more of a leadership role,” Stefan said. “He really likes the ice time and has elevated his game with Jordan and Bemis out.”

Schmitz has a penchant for scoring big goals this season. He scored the shootout winner on October 2 in Sudbury in a 6-5 win at the Community Arena, scored the overtime game-winner December 28 in the Whalers’ 3-2 victory over Erie and then scored twice (including the game-winner) last Saturday in Plymouth’s 5-2 victory over Sarnia.

At 12-3-0-1 since January 16, the Whalers move into the end of February as one of the hottest teams in the OHL. The goal is to keep playing that way into the playoffs.

“Everyone’s been playing well,” Schmitz said. “Everyone’s been playing their role, so we have to keep it up (now) and then into the playoffs. It’s playoff hockey from here on out.”

The Whalers play in Windsor on Thursday (6:45pm, 88.1FM, WSDP) before returning home Saturday to host Guelph at 7:05pm at Compuware Arena. While the Whalers take on the Storm, the game marks the return of Mascot Madness, as mascots for several corporate partners of the Whalers will get together for a hockey game during the second intermission.

LOOKING AT WINDSOR: The Spits (45-10-0-5) come into Thursday’s game after losing, 8-5, to Barrie on Saturday. The Colts are now the top team in the OHL with a record of 48-8-0-2, good for 96 points, one more than Windsor.

“So far, they are the better team,” Spitfires head coach Bob Boughner told the Windsor Star. “They outhustled us in all areas.”

After Scott Timmins opened the scoring for Windsor, Darren Archibald, Alex Hutchings and Alex Pietrangelo countered for the Colts. Timmins closed the gap to 3-2 in the second period, but Archibald, Matt Kennedy and Kyle Clifford made it 6-2.

Bryan Cameron pushed Barrie’s lead to 7-2 before Marc Cantin, Greg Nemisz and Stephen Johnston scored in a span of 2:20 to pull Windsor to within two goals with less than five minutes left in a regulation, but Hutchings scored his second into an empty net with goaltender Troy Passingham on the bench and Windsor shorthanded to close it for the Colts.

LOOKING AT GUELPH: The Storm (27-28-3-1) host Peterborough on Friday before playing the Whalers on Saturday. Guelph still has playoff aspirations. Guelph won two-out-of-three last weekend, capping the weekend with a 5-2 win in Sault Ste. Marie at the Essar Centre on Sunday after losing to Sudbury the evening before and defeating Kitchener last Friday.

“I thought we played a lot harder than we did in Sudbury - more like the Kitchener game,” Guelph lead assistant coach Chris Hajt told the Guelph Mercury. “We got second, third and fourth efforts from everyone. It was great to see.”

Article and photo courtesy Plymouth Whalers

Free Freedom Candy

UPDATE: It turns out I have more of these than I thought I would...so I have more to give away! Instead of 10, it's about 35, so just follow the same instrux below!

-----

In honor of the USA's stirring victory over Canada and that damn crybaby Sid Crosby Sunday night, I've had a few li'l stickers made up of the girl in the Team USA sweater that I posted on the Games' first day. Because selling them would be a copyright can of worms I have no intention of opening, I have no choice but to give them away...which I will, to the first ten people who post an insightful, informative or otherwise witty comment below (basically, something more than "nice!")! So get crackin'...and should you decide on your own to buy something, I certainly won't stand in your way...it is a free country, after all!

Boardin'

One of the jobs I've been doing a good amount of in the last couple years is storyboarding. It's an odd task...the requirements vary drastically from client to client. For some, a pencil sketch composed of barely more than stick figures will suffice...others ask for nothing less than what looks like a completed comic page. At any rate, copyright and confidentiality issues, non-disclosure agreements and the like mean that very little of such work ever appears here on the blog...but here are a few panels from a job that never went through last summer, which I'm pretty sure I can share since I never got paid for 'em!

♥ TIESTO Kaleidoscope Worldwide Rave ♥

♥

 

I went to Bangkok last week on 'Chinese New Year' break.
I'm not Chinese btw just to be clear, caz people have mistaken me a lot. :(
the purpose of the visit this time is to party live with TIESTO^^ yayy~~
it's the Kaleidoscope World Tour.
I really like this album, it has more melody & lyrics than the previous tiesto stuff. 

the rave itself was pretty cool.. set up in the rooftop. 
not exactly rooftop though because the Premium Ticket holder didn't actually get to chill under any roof outside.
me & friends came very early & & there were only very few of people there. we decided to get in anyway.
& that's how I was able to take some pictures.
but as the time flies, more & moreeeee people came, it was impossible to take pictures anymore.
i'm sorry for that. i didn't even get the chance to take some snap of TIESTO himself! lol.
there were too many people & I was up dancing all night^^
I didn't take any personal pictures of my journey that night caz I was just kinda busy havin' fun & didn't even remember to take some pictures. :(
but I give you some ideas from the pictures I found in Google.

 

(the ads)

so the rave was located @ Central World ZEN Rooftop in the main city of Bangkok.

 

(the huge ZEN logo)

random from Google

(this is how it looks in the daytime)

random from Google

 (the actual mall. the TIESTO rave was located at the rooftop)

random from Google

  

(how it looks like at night time)

random from Google

 

(seems that I was the only one who's eager to take pics in front of this board @ the entrance)

  

(everybody else was just chilling out, seriously, nobody taking pictures. lol)

  

(the DJ set. but that's not TIESTO. hehee)

(posing at the very beginning of the rave, before it's too pack & impossible to take pics)

 (helloo^^)

 

(TIESTO crew in the back)

here are some actual videos on set. TIESTO did a lot of remix this time, which kind of a bad thing caz I always like his original stuff. but overall he was pretty rockin' or (trancin') perhaps if that's even a word xD 

he played good stuff from Kaleidoscope that got me good. :)

escapeee meeeeeeeeeee.....^^ knock you ouuuttt.....^^

I had a lot of funnnnnnnnn.. yayy!!

love.love ♥♥

Alpena making late-season charge

Courtesy NAHL

Don’t look now, but with a little over a month left in the North American Hockey League’s regular season, there’s a race heating up for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division.

Currently settled in fifth place and out of the playoff picture, the red-hot Alpena IceDiggers - 7-2-1 in their last 10 games - are starting to make their move, thanks in part to a three-game sweep over the Motor City Metal Jackets last weekend.

“Motor City is a great team and they created a lot of good scoring chances,” said IceDiggers head coach Jack Fritsche, whose team improved to 18-28-2 on the season. “All three games could have gone either way with a bounce here or there for either team.”

Goaltender Marco Wieser turned aside all 42 shots he faced as the IceDiggers opened the weekend with a 3-0 victory on Friday.

Michael Henderson (game-winner), Andy Yarber and Jared Williams connected for the Alpena goals.

The next night, Tom Hilbrich’s overtime marker - his second of the game - lifted Alpena to a 4-3 victory over the Metal Jackets. John Fritsche (pictured) and Joel Benson rang up the other IceDigger goals, and Wieser stopped 30 shots between the pipes.

On Sunday, Williams lit the lamp two more times and Jonas Vassalli put home the game-winner as the IceDiggers skated to a 3-1 victory. Wieser made 37 saves to pick up his third win in as many nights.

“Our success right now is because, for the first time since November, we have a full roster of players,” said Fritsche. “For a stretch there we had defensemen playing forward and vice versa, and it’s hard to win games when you’re doing that.

“Having a full complement of players has allowed us to build some chemistry during practice and work on different things over the past two or three weeks that we were unable to do while players were injured.”

Fritsche, whose team sits seven points behind Motor City with 10 games to play (the IceDiggers have four remaining against the Metal Jackets), couldn’t be happier with the production he’s getting throughout his entire lineup.

“Right now, it’s been a total team effort,” he said. “A different guy each night has stepped their game up and provided a spark. Our guys understand the challenge that lies ahead, and they’ve done a tremendous job so far of staying in the moment and not getting ahead of themselves.”

The IceDiggers have also been helped by the arrival of a few fresh faces over the course of the season, all of whom have fit right in, both on and off the ice.

“We were very fortunate with some of the new players we’ve gotten because we have a great group of kids here and the new guys just came in and meshed right away, which was great,” said Fritsche.

And the IceDiggers’ success of late is peaking the interest of a handful of colleges, according to Fritsche, who anticipates a number of his players receiving offers in the not-too-distant future.

“More and more schools have been in contact with our guys throughout the season and I have little doubt that many of them will be getting opportunities here shortly,” he said.

Fritsche is also quick to credit the community and fan support in and around Alpena, which has stood by the IceDiggers despite a fragile economy.

“It hasn’t been easy on them, yet they still come out and support our guys,” he said. “We’ve had some great battles at home this season and have fallen short on some occasions, but they’re still supporting our players which speaks volumes for the character and passion our fans have for the game and our players.”

Photo courtesy RJ Meyer/NAHL

Kinkaid honored by ECAC

Freshman goaltender Keith Kinkaid has been named the ECAC Goaltender of the Week for the second time this season. He made 35 saves against Princeton on Friday night and 22 saves against Quinnipiac the following night.

For more on the honor check out ECAC Hockey.com and Union Athletics.com.

Why Do I Hate Movies So Much?

(Warning: I don’t actually hate movies. I’ve watched approximately 7 of them in the past 48 hours. The title of this entry is an exaggeration to get attention. Kind of.)

Alright, we’ve already established how much I loathe the movie-going experience. It’s not transcendental to me. It’s not a two hour escape from my worries. It’s borderline excruciating. I hate to rehash old material (note: no I don’t) but to be trapped in a dark theater with the general population to watch a movie which I have no guarantees will actually entertain me is neck-and-neck with watching a movie on a transatlantic flight seated between two Kevin James’s and directly in front of the rear lavatory. Actually, now that I think about it, at least at the end of a transatlantic flight you will be in some foreign city with adventures awaiting you. Leaving the movie theater only means stepping over stale popcorn and sticky soda residue on the long trek out to your car.

This is all very ironic because one of the biggest parties of the year is the Oscars party that my friends Philip and Holly throw at their house. There’s betting sheets and a large cash pot to be won at the end of the night. The fact that I have come in second for the past two years, while frustrating, is a testament to my ability to blindly guess correct answers. See, on any given Oscar night, I have MAYBE seen one of the nominated films. Last year, 3:10 to Yuma was the only Oscar nominated movie I had actually seen. The year before that? I had seen a whopping TWO nominees. As a side note, that same year was the year that we learned that if you are ever betting on the Oscars and get stuck on the Best Sound Effect or Best Editing and there has been a Bourne movie out that year (Ultimatum, Supremacy or otherwise), bet on that. Also, for costume awards always pick the period piece with the frilliest costumes.

That’s not to say that I didn’t bluff my way through my ballot sheet. I talked about how hard it would be to choose between Sean Penn’s hauntingly on-point portrayal of slain San Francisco mayor and gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk and Mickey Rourke’s comeback turn in The Wrestler. It was especially difficult considering I had seen neither movie. To my credit, I saw Milk a few weeks after the Oscars and it blew me away. I’m glad Sean Penn won though I had no actual reason to vote for him a few weeks prior. I saw The Wrestler a month ago. Also a good movie.

So I can’t watch movies in theaters. That’s ok, there’s always renting them. Except I canceled my Netflix membership due to the laziness that lead to me keeping movies (unwatched) for months at a time. And I don’t like going into Blockbuster because my inner Premiere Video snob screams to be let out. WHAT? You don’t have Mike Leigh’s Naked available for rental? No copies of Roman Polanski’s Repulsion? Someone should burn this place to the ground! Sadly, Premiere Video is also aware of my laziness when it comes to returning movies and therefore they have regretfully decided to not rent movies to me any longer. I can’t say that I blame them. I wouldn’t rent movies to me either.

Then my mom, of all people, hipped me to the magic of just downloading any movies that you might have wanted to see a few years ago, want to see now(ish) or plan on eventually seeing sometime in the future. In the interest of keeping whoever that is that puts those legalese warnings at the beginning of DVDs about movie trademarks happy, I will insist that this is all legal, paid-for downloads. So I followed suit. I loaded up my download queue with all the movies I never got around to seeing over the last two years and threw in the few movies I did see in the theater to see if watching them in the safety, comfort and unstickyness of my home affected my opinion of them. And they kept piling up. Before I knew it, I had twenty-odd movies to watch. And that’s when I realized: I just don’t think I like watching movies.

Blame it on our instant gratification inter-webual society (that’s a thing). Blame it on my lifelong non-love of reading fiction (I can watch documentaries until my eyes bleed and I realize I’ve been up for three days straight). But it takes A LOT for me to get sucked into a movie. And if I don’t get sucked in during that critical 30-minute opening window, all is lost. And even if I do get sucked in, if the movie starts dragging 2/3rds of the way through, I have no sense of perseverance. It’s easier than it should be for me to throw my hands up and just turn the movie off. There’s no nagging sense of curiosity on my part as to how it ends . There’s no sense of duty to finish the movie just to say that I saw it. If I watch 2/3rds of a movie and can’t make it through, I consider my task completed and will discuss the movie as if I have seen the whole thing as long as no one asks me what I thought of the ending. And if they do, you can always win any argument with a simple, understated “meh, whatever.”

I think a lot of this has to do with the EXTREMELY narrow window of movie genres I tend to enjoy. No, I don’t issue sweeping dismissals of entire genres blindly. I will try to watch a movie of any genre. As I said, you could probably make a documentary on the life of an herb garden in a kitchen window sill and I would watch it. But when you start talking action, romantic comedy, Pixar, superheroes, espionage thrillers…I just…..get…..so….sleepy. Special effects and computer generated monsters leave me cold. A wacky case of mistaken identity that leads to a beachfront marriage despite all the odds makes me want to eat glass. I’m sure there are exceptions for all of these but generally speaking, I don’t like talking animated cars or people jumping out of helicopters into collapsing buildings or cloying romantic plot lines.

So, uh, yeah. Back to why I wrote all of this. I decided that this weekend would be the weekend I would try my best to plow through my stash of downloaded movies. And the results were as follows:

The Hangover – I saw this in the theater and my hatred for it could barely be contained. I now realize that the audience had a lot to do with my initial dislike of the movie. Too many, “Ohhhhh no they didn’t!”s or “Ohhhhh shit, that Chinese guy is naked!!!!!”s. I’ve actually watched it a few times since I downloaded it and while it’s definitely not a movie that I find something new about each time, it’s a decently entertaining movie with a few memorable laughs. There, happy?

The Wrestler – Man, this movie is the antidote to subtlety. How do you say that you enjoyed a movie when, while you admired the movie and the performances therein, you were just aching for it to end? I wanted him to die. Not because I didn’t like Mickey Rourke’s character but because his life was so shitty that, for my sake, I needed him to just go out, Redd Foxx-style, in as little pain as possible. The moral of this movie? No one should EVER hire me to work for a suicide hotline.

The Invention of Lying – I loved the idea of this movie. It’s a great premise. Shoehorning that great premise into a romantic comedy wherein the lead character, who is actually likable, spends the entire movie squandering his “powers” on trying to make a completely unlikeable character fall in love with him? Boo! I can’t think of the last character from a movie that I disliked more than Jennifer Garner’s character. Maybe Christian Bale’s sleep-apnea voiced Batman?

Lost Highway – I love this movie. Seen it dozens of times. Robert Blake plays, hands-down, one of the creepiest characters ever put on film. And this was before he shot his wife in real life so that only acts as a creepy supplement to the movie. But when I was watching it (again) on Saturday, I started to realize just how 90’s the movie is. It’s like if Reality Bites was turned into a surreal horror movie. "Someone is sending us videotapes they have filmed of us sleeping in our house at night? God, that’s so creepy that I’m going to take another drag off this cigarette and shrug and suggest that maybe we should, like, I don’t know, call the cops or something? Ugh, but the phone is all the way over there." I still like it despite all of this.

Now to the movies I didn’t get around to watching:

Inglorious Bastards – Seems long. Will get around to it eventually. Look for a half-assed review of it here sometime between now and Winter of 2013.

Slumdog Millionare – Never before has a movie been so beloved and seemingly made for me and yet I have avoided watching it like the plague. I love Danny Boyle and have for years. My gay theater friend Benjamin and I listened to the soundtrack for Shallow Grave on repeat (we were, as Hank Hill would say, not right) during my first flight to London. Let me reiterate this: I love the films of Danny Boyle. Additionally, everyone I have ever met in my life swears that this movie is the most heartwarming thing any human can ever have the pleasure of viewing. So why am I so averse to just sitting down and committing two hours of my life watching it? I have no idea. It is one of life’s great mysteries. Much like why I can’t return any given rental DVD on time. Oh well.

On a completely unrelated but undoubtedly more entertaining note, with Josh Howard now gone for good, all we have are memories of when he and Marquis Daniels were the two coolest Mavs. Now Marquis Daniels has immortalized his coolness in the form of the ugliest necklace I have ever seen. Apple Orthodontics would not have let this happen.

Union in the polls (2/22/10)

After wins over Princeton and Quinnipiac this weekend this is what has happened to the Dutchmen in the polls:

• Union moved up one spot to #15 in the USCHO.com National Rankings. The Dutchmen received only three less votes than #14 Ferris State.


• They also jump into the USA Today/ USA Hockey Magazine poll at #15. Once again, they are only a mere five points behind #14 Ferris State.


• The Dutchmen are tied for #15 with Maine in the PairWise Rankings. They are basically on the border for making the National Tournament. Cornell is the team ahead of Union. The Dutchmen travel to Ithaca to take on the Big Red this Friday.


• Finally, they jump up three spots to #10 in the INCH Power Rankings.

The Power of Naps

"Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefulness, but, at a neurocognitive level, it moves you beyond where you were before you took a nap." - Dr Matthew Walker, UC Berkeley

By Patrick Driessen
People in Latin America, Southern Europe and Greater China have been doing it for generations: taking a relaxing nap during the day. Funny - but also sadly - enough in most other countries and in the work environment it is still not done to take a power nap. Hopefully that will change soon, because taking a nap at work has many benefits!

When I am on a high and am fully focused to finish a certain project, I'll spend as many hours as possible on it. To keep me going I take power naps: 15-20 minutes complete relaxation and I'll be revitalised and full of energy again. A power nap is a great investment of your time with a very high return in new energy and a (re)focused mindset!

A couple of years ago when I was taking a power nap under my own desk at my office in Amsterdam, a colleague walked by and saw me sleeping on the carpet floor underneath my desk. He thought it was hilarious, so he invited over 50 colleagues to my office who had a big laugh and took pictures of me. I didn't notice any of these visitors because I was fully asleep. When I woke up and they told me what had happened, I tried to explain the benefits of a power nap, but few would listen or understand....

Well.... maybe this new research from the University of California at Berkeley will help to change the perception of taking a power nap. The claim of the US scientists: a nap during the day improves the brain's ability to absorb new information; it boosts your leaning power! So who's been missing out?

This latest study suggests that the brain may need sleep to process short-term memories, creating "space" for new facts to be learned. In their experiment, 39 healthy adults were given a hard learning task in the morning - with broadly similar results, before half of them were sent for their siesta. When the tests were repeated, the nappers outperformed those who had carried on without sleep.

Checks on brain electrical activity suggested that this process might be happening in a sleep phase between deep sleep, and dreaming sleep, called stage 2 non-rapid eye movement sleep, when fact-based memories are moved from "temporary storage" in the brain's hippocampus to another area called the pre-frontal cortex.

Dr Matthew Walker, who led the study, stated on the BBC website: "Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefulness, but, at a neurocognitive level, it moves you beyond where you were before you took a nap. "It's as though the e-mail inbox in your hippocampus is full, and, until you sleep and clear out all those fact e-mails, you're not going to receive any more mail. "It's just going to bounce until you sleep and move it into another folder."

What you need to know about the benefits of sleep and how a power nap can help you:

1. Less stress.
2. Increased alertness and productivity.
3. Improved memory and learning.
4. Good for the heart.
5. Increased cognitive functioning.
6. Get motivated to exercise.
7. Boost your creativity.
8. Make up for midnight tossing and turning.
9. Protect yourself from sleepiness.
10. Better health.

Are you convinced as well? Many of us could use a nice long nap many days but very few have (take) the time to get one in. Here are some useful tips to help you succeed:

• The first consideration is psychological: Recognize that you’re not being lazy; napping will make you more productive and more alert after you wake up.
• Try to nap in the morning or just after lunch; human circadian rhythms make late afternoons a more likely time to fall into deep (slow-wave) sleep, which will leave you groggy.
• In the hour or two before your nap time, eat foods high in calcium and protein, which promote sleep.
  
• Find a good place to nap: a clean, quiet place where passersby and phones won’t disturb you.
  
• Have caffeine right before you nap. This may sound counter intuitive since caffeine is a stimulant, but it won't kick in immediately. The caffeine has to travel through your gastro-intestinal tract, giving you time to nap before it kicks in. Taking a "caffeine nap" in which 200mg of caffeine are consumed right before a 20-minute nap will not only improve your performance, but it will also lessen how sleepy you feel once you wake up. Skip the caffeine, however, if it's late in the afternoon; you'll have a hard time falling asleep later in the evening.
  
• The best way to consummate coffee: Get a cup of coffee wherever you can get one. Add ice and stir until the coffee is nice and cold. Why the cold coffee works best is beyond me, but it seems to. Drink 1/2 a cup to a cup of the iced coffee and close your eyes for 20 minutes. The important thing is to rest and relax. You may even catch a 5-10 minute cat nap. Once the 20 minutes is over, the coffee is ready to do its job. You'll feel as refreshed and ready to go as if you had a 2 hour nap!
• When you're close to finishing your coffee (or your green tea, or your caffeine jello shot, etc.), set an alarm to go off in 15-20 minutes. This is only true if you are one of those people who will fall asleep immediately. To know how much time it takes for you to fall asleep, take a look at the clock when you are very tired and sense you will fall asleep soon at night, and subtract the time you got into bed from that. Generally, you should set your alarm for twenty-five minutes.
• Outside of your office/nap location door, which should be closed at this point, post up a sign that says you are power-napping and can be contacted at a certain time. Do a little bit of research and present the crucially of power-napping if needed.
• Try to darken your nap zone, or wear an eye shade. Darkness stimulates melatonin, the sleep- inducing hormone.
• Remember that body temperature drops when you fall asleep. Raise the room temperature or use a blanket.
  
• Get up as soon as the alarm goes off. Sleeping for any longer than 20 minutes will be counterproductive. A half hour can lead to sleep inertia, making you feel sluggish and more tired than ever.
• To make your office and nap life easier: create a business case for your leadership to invest in nap equipment! Links to examples are at the bottom of this post.
  

How long is a good nap?

• THE NANO-NAP: 10 to 20 seconds. Sleep studies haven’t yet concluded whether there are benefits to these brief intervals, like when you nod off on someone’s shoulder on the train.
• THE MICRO-NAP: two to five minutes. Shown to be surprisingly effective at shedding sleepiness.
• THE MINI-NAP: five to 20 minutes. Increases alertness, stamina, motor learning, and motor performance.
• THE ORIGINAL POWER NAP: 20 minutes. Includes the benefits of the micro and the mini, but additionally improves muscle memory and clears the brain of useless built-up information, which helps with long-term memory (remembering facts, events, and names).
• THE LAZY MAN’S NAP: 50 to 90 minutes. Includes slow-wave plus REM sleep; good for improving perceptual processing; also when the system is flooded with human growth hormone, great for repairing bones and muscles.

For more power nap details & tips: http://www.wikihow.com/Power-Nap
For power nap office solutions: http://www.metronaps.com/
For the Nappak Sleeping Cube: http://www.nappak.de/ 

Warm regards & success with your power naps,


Patrick