So, a bit of a vacation happened. Alicia and I hit Philly and New York for family, friends, and fun, and I uncharacteristically shot more digital snaps than I did expose film. I blame my new toy.
On the L train in the morning, I was pretty sure I saw Will Oldham
Posted in Travel
Tagged alicia, brooklyn, driving, grd3, jamie, new york city, philadelphia, pulp, road trip, williamsburg
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Silent Auction Photo Poll
Hello!
My favourite café/second home Jimmy’s Coffee is hosting a silent auction to benefit an organization called Sketch. Sketch uses art to enable and inspire the creativity in “street involved and homeless people,” and I think that’s a bit of alright. Jimmy’s has asked the public to donate works to raise funds for Sketch.
Because all I’ve been doing lately is shooting photos, this is what I have to offer. I’m very bad at picking the sort of thing that might look good framed, or that might fare well in an auction, so if you have a moment to help me out, pick the most “compelling” (?) shot from below and vote for it. I’ll print it, frame it, and report back here how it does at the auction.
Thank you! You are very kind indeed! Here’s the event link for the auction on the 27th of February. The poll is at the bottom of this thread.
Edit: The poll’s closed. I think it’s safe to say that “Two weeks“, with its insurmountable lead of two votes, is the winner here. Thanks for participating, and I’ll be sure to post a photo of it in situ once the auction’s a-happenin’! -nw
NHL realignment: an extrapolation
Y’all will have heard that the NHL’s board has been discussing, and has approved, a significant realignment of the league’s conference format. Here are some random facts on this configuration:
- The last time the NHL operated with four divisions was the ’92-’93 season.
- This was the last time the Leafs shared a division with the Tampa Bay Lightning, which they again will do in ’12-’13.
- ’92-’93 was the year Kerry Fraser blinked. This should not affect our opinion of the realignment, and does not belong in this unordered list. Nevertheless, I mention it.
- The board has not yet decided on the specifics of third- and forth-round playoff order. In ’92-’93, divisional champions played a third playoff round against the other divisional champions within one of two conferences, the Prince of Wales and the Clarence Campbell. These are the antecedents of our current geographically titled conferences. Overarching conferences in the new system have not yet been mentioned at all.
- Because of the above lack of clarity, some are predicting all-West or all-East Stanley Cup Finals. This is probably nuts. I believe we will return to the four-division-two-conference set-up of ’92-’93. Sorry. I’m no fun.
- Unlike in ’92-’93, the potential “West” and “East” conferences would be unbalanced: our brave new Gary Bettman West would have 8 + 8 to the East’s 7 + 7. Maybe that won’t matter.
- The Phoenix Coyotes moving to Québec would solve this issue very tidily indeed. One might even argue that the ultimate fate of Phoenix is hidden between the lines of the NHL’s announcement.
- Also not mentioned are divisional names, which were once the Patrick, the Adams, the Smythe, and the Norris, in order of increasing coolness. The Facebook petition to have these names reinstated probably already exists.
I’m here, though, to answer the question we all want answered: Would your reinvigorated ’11-’12 Toronto Maple Leafs make the playoffs given current standings and a return to the four division format?
The answer is: Yes. They would take on the Florida Panthers (the Florida Panthers are playing well?) in round one of the playoffs, and then either the Buffalo Sabres or the (*shudder*) Boston Bruins in round two.
2012-13 NHL SEASON, HYPOTHETICAL
(As of December 6)
| Adams Division |
|---|
| 35 – Boston Bruins |
| 34 – Florida Panthers |
| 32 – Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 29 – Buffalo Sabres |
| 29 – Ottawa Senators |
| 27 – Montréal Canadiens |
| 24 – Tampa Bay Lightning |
| Patrick Division |
|---|
| 36 – Pittsburgh Penguins |
| 33 – New York Rangers |
| 33 – Philadelphia Flyers |
| 27 – Washington Capitals |
| 25 – New Jersey Devils |
| 21 – New York Islanders |
| 20 – Carolina Hurricanes |
| Smythe Division |
|---|
| 31 – Vancouver Canucks |
| 31 – Phoenix Coyotes |
| 30 – Los Angeles Kings |
| 29 – San Jose Sharks |
| 29 – Edmonton Oilers |
| 27 – Colorado Avalanche |
| 24 – Calgary Flames |
| 19 – Anaheim Ducks |
| Norris Division |
|---|
| 37 – Minnesota Wild |
| 36 – Chicago Blackhawks |
| 33 – Detroit Red Wings |
| 31 – Dallas Stars |
| 31 – St. Louis Blues |
| 28 – Nashville Predators |
| 26 – Winnipeg Jets |
| 17 – Columbus Blue Jackets |
(Teams marked yellow would make the playoffs in the current two-conference format. Ouch.)
Statistical issues exist due to our small available sample size, of course. For instance, Edmonton’s heartbreaking loss of the 4th and final spot to new bunkmates the San Jose Sharks over a single tie-breaking win would never happen given a whole season: we all know Edmonton will never keep this pace up!
Um. I think I’ve run out of steam, but here you go. Would your favourite team make the playoffs in the new system?
Posted in Nerd
Tagged charts, extrapolation, hockey, nhl, reorganization, sports, tables, testosterone, toronto maple leafs
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The journal that ever sleeps
So, if I do hit New York on my little vacation (Hi! I’m on vacation!) I may try to send some proper updates this way. I re-read some of my entries from my oh-nine trip and found them more enjoyable to read than expected, and now I’m sad that I didn’t give this year’s trip the same treatment. We’ll see if I can follow through with this. At the most, expect daily summaries of my long Manhattan walks and long Brooklyn nights, collections of digital snapshots here in the journal, and the eventual “gallery” of self-consciously arty film photos on the main page. At the least, expect two half-baked tweets and a grainy cell photo of a guy on rollerblades dressed entirely in tinfoil playing ukulele. You don’t know which to wish for now, do you? HEH HEH.
Anyroad. We’ll see what happens.