“Live” game broadcasts on NHL.com
The Vancouver Canucks are playing the Colorado Avalanche tonight, and as I was sitting at my computer, I was wondering … is there any live broadcast of the game online?
CKNW, the local radio station that usually broadcasts the Canucks’ games, doesn’t have streaming.
So I checked out NHL.com (irritatingly part of the MSN network) and was all excited about their Game Radio:
Listen to live broadcasts of NHL games on Windows Media Player! Links will not work until the broadcast is underway.
Unfortunately, all the games there are days old … the title is “Friday’s Games.” Not very live. And not what I’m looking for.
Ah well. At least they’re winning ….
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[ update ]
Aha … I found the live audio feed right on the Canucks.com home page. Errr … I guess that’s the most obvious spot.
Deer tracks in the snow
Well, it did snow last night, as I thought it might. (Although, true to West coast form, most of it melted today.)
However, during the night, we were visited by the deer that we often see around our house - and they left tracks up our driveway:
I snapped this pic early in the morning, almost in the dark, just before clearing the driveway. And then when I came in the kids pointed out that the deer were right below our house, lying quietly under the cover of some of our backyard trees.
Bums too fat; needles can’t penetrate
OK, occasionally I post the odd completely off-the-wall story on my blog. And this one fits the bill:
People’s bottoms are getting so big they no longer make a suitable target for injections, a study in Ireland has shown.
Many are now so obese that the needles customarily used simply are not long enough to penetrate the fat and reach the muscle, where they are aimed, Victoria Chan told the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of America in Chicago yesterday.
I hardly know what to say. However, if this is true of Ireland and the U.K., what is the story in the US? Or Canada for that matter? I doubt we’re healthier, overall.
Unbelievable.
Hockey bumper sticker
Saw a cool bumper sticker at the rink Saturday night:
Support your local hospital. Play hockey.
I believe this is the one right here. Certainly rings a bell with me!
Snow
It is capital-C cold today. (At least for the West coast - I think it went below 0 Celsius today.)
It feels like snow, looks like snow, and it even smells like snow. And guess what’s in the forecast? Snow. (Of course, when all these conditions are met, and kids’ expectations are high, it would be very West Coast to get rain.)
I was talking to some people at church yesterday, and they were bemoaning the fact that it looks like we’re going to get some white stuff that is not on the mountains. Sorry, but when you start thinking that way, you’re getting old.
All kids (you too, when you were young) look forward with joy and glee at the prospect of snow. It’s wonderful, beautiful, marvelous stuff that transforms the world into a hushed, softened, magical place.
I say: let it snow!
(You can always work from home. That’s why they invented the internet.)
iPod based home stereo
Teresa and I have been considering what to do with our home stereo for quite some time, and I’m thinking an iPod-based solution might be the answer.
Once I got my iPod, I immediately felt that my music library was freed - in retrospect CDs and jewel cases seem like little plastic coffins that concealed our songs.
Harmon Kardon’s iPod Docking Station seems like a good way to make that happen … put it together with the HK 3480 stereo receiver, and you’ve got a fairly decent home system.
Another benefit of putting these together (besides the relatively low cost) is that it’s a dedicated home stereo system. I’ve been looking for one for some time, and found it fairly annoying that everything auditory seems to have moved to home theatre systems. We don’t have our TV in the main living area, and see no need to integrate home theatre and home stereo.
Now the only question left … which speakers?
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(BTW, the cheapest reputable place I’ve found the HK 3480 is J & R.)
Remember the famous foot?
Remember the big ugly foot?
Well.
Apparently playing hockey on a badly bruised foot is not quite the thing to do. Unless you want it to get worse:
Ah well. It goes nicely with the bump just over my left eye that I acquired today from yet another stick in the face.
Google “click-to-call”
I can’t say I expected this … a new service from Google that connects advertisers and buyers via the phone.
We’re testing a new product that gives you a free and fast way to speak directly to the advertiser you found on a Google search results page – over the phone.
Here’s how it works: When you click the phone icon, you can enter your phone number. Once you click ‘Connect For Free,’ Google calls the number you provided. When you pick up, you hear ringing on the other end as Google connects you to the other party. Then, chat away on our dime.
We won’t share your telephone number with anyone, including the advertiser. When you’re connected with the advertiser, your number is blocked so the advertiser can’t see it. In addition, we’ll delete the number from our servers after a short period of time.
Interesting!
[ update ]
I just threw this on my blog during a coffee break at work, but now that I’m back home, the thing that strikes me as really brilliant about Google click-to-call is that it provides a whole new way for the industry previously known as telemarketing to grow into something entirely different, new, and better.
Telemarketing will accomplish essentially the same purpose - sell stuff - but much more efficiently, because prospects will be pre-qualified. In fact, they’ll qualify themselves.
(OK, so that’s the rose-tinted glasses version. The reality will be somewhat less.)
However, there is no question in my mind that this is the future of telemarketing … just when that industry is entering it’s toughest days with the introduction of the national do-not-call registry in the US.
My big ugly foot (and bruise)
Ice hockey is for masochists, as I believe I’ve mentioned before.
In addition to the 4 stitches that were inserted to hold my lip together about 3 weeks ago, and the cantaloupe-sized bruise just above my right knee that I got as a souvenir for stopping a puck a week after that, I’ve got an entirely new happy memory to share with my grandchildren.
Last week I blocked a slapshot (entirely inadvertently, I must say) with my ankle. Ouch. Don’t try this at home, kids.
In addition to the puffiness, which you can’t really see, this is the result:
No my ankle is not usually that fat. Or black, blue, and yellow.
The most painful part, oddly, is above the actual ankle joint, which is not very black and blue. I was able to finish the game, but only because I never stopped to take off my skate. If you do that, forget trying to get it back on - your ankle will be too fat and too sore.
Hopefully it will feel OK for next game … tomorrow.
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The scar, by the way, is from a previous incident involving renovation, toilets, falling, and pain. Don’t go there.
Windows XP urinal breaks down
Remember the “designed for Windows XP” urinal that I blogged a few days ago?
We had a good laugh in the office today when it suddenly broke down. Must have picked up a virus, or maybe there was a bug in the code. Apparently the software in urinals is very complex these days.
Hopefully someone has ordered a service pack. Dunno if it’s number 1 or number 2.
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Sparkplug 9 is John Koetsier's blog on life, the universe, and everything,
but mostly the stuff you see big in the tags to the left.
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