He's Like A Detuned Radio

"The Third Commandment... has not fared well in English. Lo tissa et shem Ha-Shem Eloheikha la-shav is usually translated as "You shall not take the Lord your God's name in vain." Many people think that this means that you have to write God as G-D, or that it is blasphemous to say words such as "goddamn". Even if these assumptions are correct, it's still hard to figure out what makes this offense so heinous that it's included in the document that forbids murdering, stealing, idolatry, and adultery. However, the Hebrew, Lo tissa, literally means "You shall not carry [God's name in vain]"; in other words, don't use God as your justification in selfish causes... When a person commits an evil act, he discredits himself. But when a religious person commits an evil act in the name of God, he or she discredits God as well. And since God relies on religious people to bring knowledge of Him into the world, He pronounces this sin unpardonable."

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin


I just read this online and for some reason have the urge to put this here so that I'll always have access to it. Do with it what you will.

Yesterday, while walking through Union Station I overheard two girls discussing the t-shirt that I was wearing. "Hey, check out that guy, he's wearing a Shins shirt. Wow, he's cool." And I was walking away, one of them said, quite loudly, "I love you."

Now that's odd.

This was originally going to be a comment but it's going to end up being too long.

http://www2.sportsnet.ca/nhl/free_agent_whosleft.html

A list of restricted and unrestricted free agents left. Very few unrestricted names still jump out at me. Zamuner, Francis, Mogilny (NJD), MacInnis, Lemieux (HA!!), Hackett, Leclair (PIT), Ragnarsson, Bondra, Dunham, Hlavac, Lindros (TOR), Messier, Stevens, Perreault, Carter (VAN), Cechmanek, Deadmarsh, Hamrlik (CGY), Selanne, Damphousse.

Some will stay with their current, some probably will retire, others will sign for less than a million just looking for somewhere to play. Perreault wouldn't be a bad move.

My four lines as of now (with some wishful thinking):

Tucker-Sundin-O'Neill
Carter-Allison-Antropov(R)
Ponikarovsky-Stajan-Domi
Kilger-Steen-Belak(R)

(R)-Unsigned Restricted Free Agents

At least the defense doesn't look so bad with the Khavanov signing. It give them a decent top 4, put Colaiacovo and Pilar as 5 and 6 and I'd be content with that. Plus there's still Aki "The Ice" Berg to deal with. Both him and Pilar are restricted so I guess they're interchangeable in that 6-spot. I'd like to see Belak as a forward and not filling one of the valuable defensive slots.

So we have nine signed forwards with a complete lack of depth down the middle of the ice. Injury risk at 2 and two young guys at 3 and 4.

A couple of people have asked me for an update on the car accident saga, so thanks for the concern and let's begin.

Last Sunday, I spoke to a lawyer and he told me it was a weak careless driving charge and will likely get reduced to following too closely. While not ideal, i.e. 30% increase in insurance; 4 points; it's still better than the careless charge will leave me without insurance with my present company and it'll be around $9000-11000 at another company. So I signed a contract, indicating that I gave the lawyer the right to fight the charge as if it was his own. It'll be 3-5 months for a court date and I'm not required to attend.

There was no internal damage on the van, which left the bumper, hood and front left panel to be replaced. Not counting labour that'll be around $5000. That's ridiculous. $1800 for a new hood? I don't know, the more I think about it, the more I think the hood is a bit of a luxury. It's not really needed, it doesn't do anything, it’s just like a fish tank or espresso machine. We should have the van back by the end of the week and we get rid of the rental Chevy Impala. I wouldn't recommend it, the radio is totally confusing.

On Thursday, I spoke to adjustor and gave him my statement. He seemed surprised by the careless driving charge and was a really nice guy to boot. At the end of my questioning, he mentioned that at this point all questions from the other guy's insurance company, lawyer, etc. should be redirected to him. So between signing the contract with the lawyer and this, I now have no other responsibility in this matter.

After going to Ariel's birthday party yesterday, it was nice to see her, Rachel, Theresa and Nicole. Sometimes, you hold these memories in your head that you feel no one else remembers and cares about and to hear other people bring them up with the same enthusiasm that you have, ultimately makes you feel really good about yourself. I don't know why. Perhaps, it's just that as much as we move on and change, we'll always have this common past together and we all cherish it.

What the hell is with the Leafs? Signing Domi for 1.25 million per is ridiculous. It's not that's not an inappropriate salary, Andre Roy got 1 million and Domi is better than him. But the Leafs simply can't afford to spend that money on a 4th line enforcer. They're going to bad this year, there's no two ways about it. But I'd still like to see them sign Anson Carter.

Scarborough Represent!!!

The Coldplay set list. Awesome show...

Square One
Politik
Yellow
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
Speed Of Sound
Low
Warning Sign
Everything's Not Lost
White Shadows
The Scientist
'Til Kingdom Come
Don't Panic
Clocks
Talk

ENCORE:

Swallowed In The Sea
In My Place
Fix You