LkptTiger

Loving the people who come in for general skate and throw-down extra bread to get the FBV on their Vapor X:15s or One05s. Also, the assholes who come in after playing pond hockey and have somehow managed to cover their steel and holders in mud, but can't be bothered to even make it look as though they made an attempt to wipe any of it off. Guy came-in on Sunday, obviously from out of town (rocking his kid's squirt team's travel gear) walked around a bit, grabbed one of our remaining Montreal 9000 goal sticks and approached my buddy and I at the counter......and then told us he was willing to buy it - but only if we gave him 20% off. Me: "Sorry - can't do it, bud. Those Montreals on the rack over there are probably the last we're going to be able to get into the store. People have been coming in and buying 3, 4, 5 and 6 at a time. They're awesome sticks. The ones we have over there aren't going to last much longer; we've got no problems moving them at full price." Guy got at attitude at this point, started huffing and puffing a bit and told us "I can get this stick so much cheaper in (insert hometown here)".....then got REALLY pissed when I just shrugged my shoulders and said "I don't know what to tell you, man. Maybe you should buy the stick in (insert his hometown here)". I'll never understand why some people feel as though they should be entitled to a discount. I've never asked for one and don't think I ever really could without feeling unbelievably uncomfortable. "Ummmm, excuse me, Ms. Gas Station Attendant? Hi. Look, I want to fill my car over there with gasoline and I know the sign outside SAYS $2.92/gallon, but you should know that I'm not willing to pay a penny more than $2.15. Can we make some sort of deal, here?"

That was a lay-up.

Campbell's stop on Kadri's PP one-timer comes to mind. I think Eblerle caught a pretty big piece of him while he was cutting across the crease. Canadians are flooding my phone with texts. Both teams got away with quite a few. I'm not going to complain about calls/non-calls - I actually thought it was a pretty well-called game. Neither team played particularly great...in the end the U.S. just deserved the loss more. I am pretty pumped about Cormier, though. Can't wait to see him in Newark.

U.S. is being fucking dominated along the boards...and in the face-off circle. My heart is in my throat going into OT.

The ridiculous amount of surplus clear hockey tape I have lying around is coming in pretty handy as I'm wrapping-up presents (poorly, I might add). Trying to have some fun with it, too. One of the things I bought for my girlfriend this year is a new wool coat...which is in a box that I have taped-down inside another, MUCH larger box. Also, I've securely taped a bunch of 5lb. weight plates all over the inside walls of the bigger box - so her new coat is wrapped up in a box about 3'x2.5' that weighs about 45 pounds.

Al Franken.

That was some great steel.

The New Jersey Devils.

I had a guy come into the shop the other day and ask to try on a 750 goal skate in a size 9. Instead of going to get the skates, I sat him down and sized him up...then put him in a size 6.5. People are always going to think they know what size they should be wearing and, for a number of reasons, they're usually wrong. It's not often they're wrong by 2.5 sizes, but they're usually wrong nonetheless.

I'm not spending more money on this machine. I just spent $140 getting viruses removed after they attacked when I turned my computer on for the first time in months...then I get slapped by this BSOD within two days of picking it up from the tech shop. I'm going to start setting some cash aside; maybe I'll buy myself an iMac after Christmas. *Update: Audio driver re-installed; speakers (and headphones) working.*

Computer crashed...apparently I had/have a little problem known in tech-circles as "The Blue Screen of Death" - and it is a bitch. My computer was completely frozen. I had to completely re-install XP (which means I lost EVERYTHING) - but I had to fool with my BIOS and boot sequences to even get my computer to read the disk before shutting itself down (upon start-up, lol). Apparently this little issue presents pretty sizable problems for very computer-savvy people. I am probably the least tech-savvy, most computer-illiterate person between the ages of 7 and 40...so you can imagine how much fun I'm having. It would be a Hell of a lot easier if my optical drive was working properly (not reading disks), and it would be more enjoyable if my computer would recognize and acknowledge the fact that my speakers are plugged-in and turned on. I'm about *this* close to unplugging the tower, taking the thing for a little walk and throwing it into the Erie Canal (about a mile from my house).

The Leafs haven't touched postseason ice since 2004. How many more seasons of "next year" can their fans take?

open heel High lie.

Sounds like a trip to the Sundowner is in order Saturday night. Excellent choice. Seductions, too. It was an awesome night. Wound-up costing me quite a bit of money...but it was still a great night.

My best friend's bachelor party is this Saturday...and let's just say that I've got some very good stuff lined-up for it. The only bummer is going to be the transportation costs...especially since we are going to have to make our way across to Canada because there are a couple of us that aren't quite 21 yet.

Will be going car shopping over the next couple weeks. I've got a bit of cash stashed away and will be getting a (relatively) fat bonus check from my summer job soon - so I'm looking to buy outright. I've done some research and a bit of looking around (mostly while dealerships are closed so as to not be annoyed by salesmen, and also to avoid wasting their time by hanging around and demanding attention before I'm in a position to buy) and - pending test drives and then a once-over from my brother (a mechanic) - pretty much have myself narrowed down to a couple cars. Any of you seasoned car-buying vets have any pointers for a kid going through this for the first time? I like to think of myself as being of at least a "competent" level of intellect and I'm already pretty narcissistic and distrusting of people I don't know...so I'm not TOO concerned about falling for the B.S. a salesman is going to try to feed me. Even so, does anybody have anything that they think I should be wary of going in? Tricks they might try to pull on me? Negotiating tactics? Anything at all you just feel might be useful? Thanks, boys.

Inward Eye; pretty good band out of The Peg. They put on a great show, too. Shame

As much as my summer job sucks, the money is pretty damn good (for a kid who just picked-up the job as something new to do for a few months). Hit my numbers (and beyond) last month, which means I'll be taking a $2,000+ bonus check to the bank sometime in the next couple weeks.

You can't call me a liar, eh?

Season over...finally able to bring my stuff home and show-off what I've got left of these bad boys - since I know this could probably be used as porn for some of the people here (sorry for the shitty quality - used phone, can't find camera): I had a few more...but most anyone who has used the XN10 can attest to its "fragile" nature. The rest of the league can keep their S17/SE16/ST/One95/Dolomite/etc/ sticks and their One95/Vapor XXXX/SE16/9k/U+/etc. skates...I'm more than happy with my XN10s and Vapor 10s (on LS2s). Christ, my sticks and skates were discontinued when I was, like, a Pee Wee... (the rest of the stuff in the bag is probably not of interest - 4500/DLX combo, NBH XXXX Pro gloves, team "custom" NBH pants, old/beat-up Easton Z-Air shins/elbows Bauer Classic (lace-up) shoulder pads, Garnier Fructis shampoo/conditioner, Irish Spring Micro-Scrub bar soap, an "Embassy Suites" towel and a lot of tape/wax).

Well...I wasn't gonna be the one to say it ;)

Rewarding indeed. If you take the time to fit someone properly, it's always nice to hear that the customer appreciates the effort you put in and the knowledge that you "dropped" on them. As long as I'm in the thread: I just want to send out a big "Thank you!" to all the shop employees out there who are either ridiculously ignorant or just too damn lazy to offer a customer decent service - you make the rest of us look really, really, REALLY good. I was fitting a kid on Tuesday and was explaining different widths when the kid's mom stopped me and said "Oh my God - when we got his last skates at *random shop in the area*, they told us that skates didn't come in different widths!" Needless to say, they were forever grateful when I took the time to size him in a pair of skates that fit his foot properly right out of the box.

A lot of LHS workers (of any age...we younger guys can care, too) kinda "get off" on 1) flexing our "random customer memory" and 2) hearing a customer tell us that they're happy with a piece of equipment that we helped them pick-out. I was walking out to our bus after a game a couple weeks ago when I noticed a kid (maybe 11 or 12) and his family who I had fit and sold Mission AGXs to when he came into the shop during a tournament a few weeks before. They were all standing off to the side a bit as my teammates and I loaded our shit on the bus and got ready to go home. I tossed my bag, veered off, shook the father's hand, nodded a "hello" to the mother and asked "So how have those skates been working for you?" The kid yells "They're awesome! No break-in time at all!" I give the kid a high-five and he starts to say something else - but his dad cuts him off: "His skating has actually improved quite a bit - especially after we got them profiled like you said. But right now I'm more impressed with the fact that you remembered us! Jeez, a random family that came across the border for a random tournament on some random weekend and bought a random pair of skates. You must see hundreds of people like us in any given week. Hell, I have to admit, I didn't recognize you until you came over and said something." I just kinda laughed and said something like "Yeah, you probably didn't see me on the ice because I was just moving too fast, but now it's probably the clothes; I wasn't wearing a suit when I was fitting him up." We shot the shit for a little while until the bus was loaded-up and everyone was ready to go. They thanked me for my service and I thanked them for their business and directed them to our Canadian store (which isn't too far from where they were from) in the event that they would ever need any help with the skates or anything else. Had we not won the game, I probably would have been brooding a bit and not said a thing. But the game went relatively well and I was in a good mood, so I decided to chat 'em up a bit. Ultimately, it's a win-win-win: I win because I get my ego stroked a bit, our shop wins because we probably just got a loyal, repeat customer, and the customer wins because he now knows that his business was appreciated by people who care and that he can trust.

I believe that machine is going to wind-up in Amherst, NY.

I think it's going to be tough to make it look decent without spreading the design out over his entire back. There isn't too much room in that Southern Ontario/Niagara Peninsula area. If it were me, I think I would stay away from any sort of "personal identification" in a tattoo like that one - I really, really like the idea...and I think bringing focus to one small section of the entire country (and it's heritage) which he's celebrating would sort of defeat the purpose and maybe take away from the "message." Obviously, though, that's just my opinion. Tattoo's are (generally) about personal and original expression...so it's up to him/you.