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Before I went to bed last night I looked at the notepad that I had out while watching the game.  I had jotted down a bunch of things during the game, but I wanted to revisit them this morning so as to avoid having the frustration of the loss overwhelmingly cloud my commentary.  But when I looked at that notepad this morning, there were a couple of things that still immediately jumped out at me.  Scribbled between some random notes and bunch of exclamation points exist a couple of items worth sharing:

First, in big bolded letters the word “playoffs” is circled over and over.  Just in case you have somehow managed to forget — we are currently playing in the NHL Playoffs – the most challenging and perhaps difficult championship quest in all of professional sports.  What that means is that the regular season has ended — and as a team, you should be playing at an even more intense and elevated level.  You are no longer in the the regular season.  Again, just to reiterate, it is the playoffs!

Please begin to buckle down and play like a playoff team.  You can no longer use inexperience as an excuse for lack-luster and undisciplined play.  The three too-many-men on the ice penalties have killed us as Montreal’s powerplay is certainly firing on all cylinders.   Many of you have been there several times before — and thanks to last night’s performance, you are now getting ready to play in your FOURTH consecutive Playoff GAME 7.  (Flyers from two seasons ago, Rangers and Penguins last year.)

Yes, you guys had a kick-ass season, full of franchise records for goals scored, points, wins, and basically every other offensive category in the league.  You were juggernauts at home and away, and teams definitely feared looking at their calendar knowing that the Caps were up soon!  You secured the President’s Trophy and home ice in the playoffs — with almost 2 weeks of hockey left over.  You were the number 1 seed in the East and looking a deep Stanley Cup run.  But honestly, and I am the first to say that I hate to bring out a sales analogy  – what have you done for us lately — besides elevate our blood pressure!

Did you play another incredible game game last night? Sure.
Did you outplay the Montreal Canadiens on paper? Absolutely!
Did you outshoot them by a significant margin? Yes!
Were you basically setting up an outpost with how much offensive zone time you had? Yup!
But did any of that matter — well, not exactly…you still lost.

Unless you are able to build on that internal momentum somehow and deliver a victory tomorrow night – it is fair to say that many of your strongest and loudest fans will be disappointed.  And not because we expected you to perform better or somehow believe that this is our year to win the Cup out of some misguided dream — but because we love hockey, know how dangerous and talented this team is, and have seen a bunch of sloppy play across the past three games.

That’s right — I said it — sloppy play!

In the middle of notepad the phrase “Green = Liability” was underlined.  No offense here Mike, but you’ve been really trying to do too much, to quick, all alone.  Instead of letting loose and focusing on your central role as a defender and finding your groove a little bit more, you’ve been all over the ice like a chicken running around with its head cut off.  Yes, we all recognize that you are up for the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman; an honor that is certainly justified if the Norris wasn’t so overwhelmingly slanted to favor remarkably offensive defenders.  Your talents are not in question here and your skillset is why you led all defenseman in points.  But honestly, you’ve got a pretty damn good supporting cast that can help generate offense.

Come playoff time, IT IS DEFENSE THAT WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS!  Keep that blue line steady and focus on not letting people blow by you, and everything will be fine.  Watching your play across the past 2 games specifically makes me think that the Canadiens are explicitly targeting you as the man they want to attack.  Finish your checks and crunch some people — stop taking stupid penalties — and unless we are on the power play, stop trying to play offense!  Let our forwards do the scoring!  I almost threw my beer bottle through my television set when during the third period you tried to take the puck up ice, only to lose it at the redline, which allowed Montreal to go down the ice 2 on 1.  If Varly didn’t make an incredible acrobatic save at that moment, your collective fates would have been sealed alot sooner than they turned out to be.

Which brings me to the third item, and almost final item,  on that notepad – Varly!

There’s something in me that really likes Varly – he’s a young, aggressive, and very talented goaltender.  No question!  He will have a long and prosperous career in the NHL – no doubt.  The problem with him is quite simple — he’s not as good as Jose Theodore.  In my opinion, not even close!  Jose had a really hot hand coming into the playoffs (remember that 20-0-3 stretch) and I think he was unjustifiably yanked early during this series.  Now, it is Varly who has lost two in a row — and clearly that gives Montreal even more confidence and momentum coming into Game 7.  I’m not one to question coaching and Bruce’s gut, but if he doesn’t opt to play Jose on Wednesday night, I think a lot of questions can, and should be raised.  Jose is now rested, hungry, itching to play, and certainly more experienced in big games.  I’m confident that if given the opportunity, he will shine.

Speaking of shinning — Alex Semin will shine again.  He almost broke through last night a few times and is doing everything right – except getting the puck in the net.  But his lack of offensive performance is more a function of Halak being a beast than Semin not performing optimally.  Let’s cut him a little slack knowing that he is overdue for an offensive breakout!  He’s leading the team in shots on goal during this series and has had moments of brilliance.  If Halak weren’t seeing the puck like a bowling ball coming at him, I think we’d be getting more pucks past him!

In all, I’m confident that we will triumph on Wednesday — not because I am a die-hard Caps fan that simply wishes the team well — but rather because we are a better team.  It is unlikely that if we outshoot our opposition at home by such a wide margin that we will not overcome them.  Its unlikely that our most offensive players will be held back when 18ooo fans are chanting “Lets Go Caps.”  We didn’t have too many 4 game losing streaks during the season, and I don’t think were going to start now.

Our victory will allow us to refocus and prepare for the Flyers.  But if you think that series will be any easier than this one, think again.  Philly is rested and eager to take us on to show that our victories over them during the regular season weren’t nearly as lopsided as they appeared.  They’re looking for vengeance and I know we’re in for a physical series.

But, if we play like we know how, no team in the league can stop us!  Caps win 4 games to 1 against the Flyers.  But more importantly, Caps win tomorrow night!

Of course, comments, are always welcome!

Follow me on Twitter @yianniak

I guess first of all, I have to give a huge shout out to my little brother who delivered yet another amazing dinner.  He literally makes one of the best birds I’ve ever eaten, so juicy and moist, and perfectly seasoned, that its truly delicious. But on top of that, he made a sick set of yams, deliciously crunchy broccoli, and a whole host of side dishes that were fully devoured by everyone at my house.  And its times like these that it feels so good to be surrounded by a great group of family and friends – and that is certainly something to be thankful for.

And while Thanksgiving is meant to be a time of reflection to appreciate all of those things in life to be thankful for, I think that should be done everyday — even if it is just for a little bit.  I mean, if you are missing out on life’s simple pleasures on a daily basis and try to squeeze all of that good into a single day, I’d hope and think that you’re really missing out on a bunch of great things that happen all the time!

Think about it for a second and see if you don’t agree.

Honestly, this past year has been a tremendously rewarding one for me — in more ways than I think I could explain even if I tried.  And while I’d love to think that I am constantly growing, personally, professionally, emotionally, philosophically, ethically, etc, I think that this part year in particular has been especially good — and for that I am thankful.

And I think that I feel that way because there are exact moments or events that have occurred recently that reemphasize that the direction I’m moving in is indeed the right one — and that the choices I’ve made have in fact been right for me — and that the outlook I maintain is an outlook that I think more people should strive to have.  And that is something I’m thankful for.

So, as everyone is home with their families and friends, I wish you all a great thanksgiving!

So, from here on out, I’ll make the time (probably just by sticking it in my calendar for 15 minute intervals) to actually maintain my blog.

Note — once the new Avendi Media blog goes live, since I’ll be maintaining that one as well, I might have to stop personally blogging – we’ll see!

Anyways, just to give you all a quick overview as to why I’ve been MIA – it really is all about time.

There literally haven’t been enough hours in the day the past few weeks to get done all of the things that are on my plate.  Between delivering a really intricate website for Activision (www.callofdutyendowment.org) and closing 4 new clients (The Stafford Foundation, the Four Seasons Jackson Hole, the Protection Project, and one who will remain confidential until completion, taking care of Apollo, managing to get outside to enjoy the remnants of Fall, and everything else — the blog has suffered.

But, I’m confident that I’ll make up for it with the next round of entries!

Stay tuned!!

There is a confluence of factors I guess that are impacting me at present – first, it has been over a month since I’ve posted anything to this blog — a testament to how remarkably busy we’ve been at Avendi Media across the past few weeks, but also a stark reminder that maintaining a live / free-flowing blog is actually harder that it might seem.  Second, we are in the second week of October in Washington DC, and other than a few days where we reached the lower 50s, the weather hasn’t exactly started to reflect Fall.  The leaves are changing at the pace of years past, the elderly in my neighborhood haven’t yet started using their fireplaces, and the fact that it is 80 degrees right now and I am sweating in m office is more perplexing than pleasant.  That said, I’m certainly trying to take advantage of the weather and do plan a nice little stroll through Rock Creek park in the morning if it doesn’t start pouring.  Thirdly, as if you didn’t already hear the news, President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace prize earlier today.

And while I am certainly one of the president’s most unwavering supporters, I am beginning to think that bestowing upon him this honor does more harm than good.

Sure, it solidifies the European view that the election of Obama was a needed and dramatic change over the Bush Administration.  Sure, it will elevate the stature of a President who in recent weeks has spent through much of his political capital like a 10 year old kid spending his allowance on lollipops and fruit-roll-ups.  Sure, it demonstrates that many of our neighbors on the world stage view his rhetoric and approach to diplomacy as the renewed beacon by which the US will again shine and command a global audience, not by the threat of force or by the clout of our economy (which in case you are living under a rock without some sort of lifeline to the outside world is not nearly as strong as what it was, not will it ever be the dominant force that many of us hope it will be), but rather through a complex and delicate balance of international cooperation, diplomacy, and direct contact with those nations that need to be dealt with.

That being said, unfortunately, this president hasn’t yet delivered on any of those things which he has set out to accomplish.  And in my opinion, giving him the peace prize for thinking out loud and for telling us what he hopes to do isn’t quite right.

But, I guess time will tell and I hope that we lives up to expectations.

You are a future-Hall of Fame quarterback who is starting to resemble a confused 4 year old kid in the candy store, lost between a grape sucker and a Pixie Stick!

While I can’t pretend to fully understand what it must be like for a professional athlete who does not want to give up the game, I think that there comes a time in every person’s life where they just need to make a damn decision and stick to it.  The fact that Brett has come out of retirement twice now is kind of a joke — it does not make me feel pity for you and think that the hours of anguish that you put yourself through coming to a decision was difficult.

I mean, seriously, just 3 weeks ago you claimed that your body was not in shape and you felt that the trials, bumps, and bruises that you will endure across the 16 week NFL season were too much for you.  And then yesterday, you just stroll onto the field and take snaps like you’ve been doing it all your life.  The funny thing is Brett, you have been doing it all your life and NO ONE questions your ability to be a great quarterback.

You’ve been there!  You’ve done that!  Remember…

You are statistically one of the best passers who has ever picked up a football.  You are the only player EVER to with the NFL MVP Award 3 consecutive time. (1995–97.) With you leading the huddle, the Packers won seven division championships (1995, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2007), 4 NFC Championship games (1995, 1996, 1997, and 2007) of which you won 2, and 2 Superbowls.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you won one of those too so you’ve already got that elusive Superbowl ring that every NFL star wants!  You’ve already got your name plastered in the record books too — most career TDs (464), most career passing yards (65,127), most career pass completions (5,720), most career pass attempts (9,280), most career interceptions thrown (310), most consecutive starts for an NFL QB, and most career victories as a quarterback.  So seriously Brett, what else are you trying to do!  Give it a rest already buddy and sit in your bad-ass house in Mississippi and just get the Direct TV NFL package and watch the seasons on your big screen like the rest of us!

Truly, at this point I am beginning to wonder whether this whole sage is a matter of poor judgement on your part and an issue stemming from how you place self before team.  After all, you aren’t the only one in a uniform out there, and last time I checked there are a bunch of other guys on the Vikings roster too!  Sure your presence there may elevate their game and your wisdom both on the field and in the locker room will probably make some of those guys better players, but don’t pretend that your love of the game is what brings you back.

If that were the case, I think you’d be a little more mindful of the historic rivalry between Green Bay and Minnesota and perhaps you would have thought a little bit more about how all those Green Bay fans who adored you and worshipped you for years in the brutal Green Bay cold felt when they heard the news that you signed with the Vikings.

And to be honest, I’m not gonna give you the benefit of the doubt any more.  I hope that you help this team right off the bat and come out strong, because if you don’t — you know, like last year with the Jets, I’m gonna hope that these Viking fans begin to chew you out as quickly as they have welcomed you in.

Obama has not exactly been the beacon of change that the super-left has been hoping for, nor has be been able to appease the moderate and just right of center Republicans that he campaigned so hard to win over.  And honestly, it seems as if he bit off a little more than he could chew and back-peddled a bit, and has begun to see how much of an influence the news media has in affecting and effecting the communal phycology of the citizenry.  His approval rating have taking a huge beating and I think that President is beginning to get a little tired of not having his way.  After all, the Democrats control both majorities of the House and Senate.  Whatever the reason, I think the President woke up yesterday with a vigor and passion that maybe hadn’t been in him since the campaign trail.

In no way am I suggesting that the President was up late on Friday night watching HBO and thought to himself, “you know what, Bill’s right.”  But, the tremendous flip-flop on healthcare and the latest news that the President and his closest advisors are thinking of pushing healthcare reform through without a wide range of support is very telling.  And something that Obama and his team should in fact be proud of.

He campaigned hard that health care reform was a top priority — and now he’s coming through — whether or not everyone agrees.  And at the end of the day, that’s what a leader does.  Plain and simple.

Sure, there will be a lot of people who disagree with his government option, and I’m not even fully convinced that his proposal will work exactly as it should, but at the end of the day I am all for supporting a President whose initiatives and over arching policies I agree and believe in.  I think that healthcare in this country is a joke, and it is such a shame as we have the best and brightest doctors and technologies around.  How is it that a country with one of the world’s strongest economies, has an infant mortality rate that mirrors some third world countries, and obesity epidemic that is out of control, and a system that encourages the minimization of coverage and benefits for the maximization of corporate insurance profits?  How can we afford to fight what are seemingly endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for billions and billions of dollars a year, but can’t afford to ensure that every citizen has basic, basic, healthcare?  How is it possible that you go to the DMV and they have a record of every single parking ticket and moving violation that you have ever had, regardless of how many states you have lived in or how many different cars you have owned, but you can’t get your doctor to have your latest medical history electronically?

But the reasons why I think we need healthcare reform aren’t as important as the reasons that Obama is going out on a limb to get it done now.  He needs to regain the political upper hand.  He needs to show the ultra-left that he can do exactly what he said he was going to do.  He has to show the moderate democrats that he can wield his political clout and fix something that he sees as broken.  He needs to show Republicans that he’s the president and that if they want to work with his administration, that they need to come to the table with more options and not just reasons why his options aren’t sufficient.

All I know is that the next few weeks are going to be interesting, and I am kind of upset that I’ll be away and out of the loop!

The man truely is incredibly gifted.

Look for yourself:

From this past Friday’s episode:

New Rule: President Obama must give up that awful habit that sets such a bad example for young people. I’m talking, of course … about golf.

Golf, if you’re not familiar, is a pastime where you basically walk outdoors with a bag, muttering and cursing. It’s like being homeless in loud pants. Anyway, Time magazine is reporting that since he became president, Barack Obama has taken up golf with a passion, playing almost every weekend for the past few months — and I feel betrayed. He campaigned as a basketball player. It said to us, “I’m urban and athletic and hip and a team player.” Golf says, “I like Lipitor and white collar crime.” And it’s not just golf — he’s been purposefully eating a lot of hamburgers in public lately, to prove he loves meat. And he said that, unlike before he became president, he prays all the time now and that his Faith and Neighbor Initiatives Director sends him scripture on his Blackberry to start every day. Jesus, is there something about that house that turns people into assholes?

I kid the Commander in Chief, he’s very far from an asshole, he’s a cool dude, and I want to keep him that way! I don’t want a regular guy running the country. We tried that for eight years and New Orleans still smells like mildew. Obama was different. He wasn’t Joe Six-Pack. He had a six-pack. And when he gave a speech it didn’t make English teachers cry. He wasn’t some regular schmuck who spent five hours a weekend on the golf course. Why? Because he actually likes his family!

But Democrats have this bad habit of letting the Republicans scare them into acting more “regular guy” than they really are, and then they look inauthentic. Like Hillary drinking shooters. Like Dukakis in the tank. So I’m putting you on notice, Barack Obama: you’re from Chicago, the day I see you in a duck blind, I’m taking my hope elsewhere.

So that’s why I’m so worried when I see my president playing golf, because golf is a slippery slope. First comes the golf attire, then the golf stories and pretty soon you’re telling black jokes. What’s worse is that you know Obama doesn’t really wanna be golfing, he’s just doing it because he thinks it will relax the white people. “How could I be a socialist, I’m putting!” Well, I’ve got news for you, Mr. President, the people who think you want to kill their Great Aunt Millie aren’t going to be swayed by a photo-op on the golf course. They see those photos, they’re not thinking you’re just like Tiger Woods, they’re thinking, “Here comes the Angel of Death, and he’s got a nine iron.”

There is also a more serious side to this, because golf, hamburgers, and religion are all things that are incredibly bad for the environment. According to the U.N., in 15 years almost two billion people will be living in conditions of absolute water scarcity. And yet, a golf course in Palm Springs consumes as much water per day as an American family uses in four years. Golf courses in America consume over 114 million gallons of water a year on grass that doesn’t even get you high. Golf courses also need large quantities of fertilizers and pesticides whose run-off pollutes the ground water for miles around.

This isn’t just a third world problem — there’s a water shortage right now in the western United States. If I surpass my monthly water allotment here in Los Angeles, I’ll get fined by the city. If I do it twice, they’ll send 40,000 prisoners to live in my backyard.

But when it comes to bad for the environment, nothing — literally — compares with eating meat. The business of raising animals for food causes about 40 percent more global warming than all cars, trucks, and planes combined. If you care about the planet, it’s actually better to eat a salad in a Hummer than a cheeseburger in a Prius.

There was a news story last week about the U.S. military warning America that the ripple effects from global warming inspired disasters could kill millions of people, but none of them can moonwalk, so nobody gave a shit. But if this “planet” problem is so dire the military is saying they’re going to have to start dealing with it, maybe the president should set a better example about how we just can’t live exactly as we always have and survive. I’m certainly not suggesting that we “take away” your golf or your hamburgers, but when it comes to being a role model on the environment, this president is out to lunch. With Joe Biden, eating greaseburgers.

Which is a shame, because he and his wife have demonstrated enormous power to lead by example. What they do, Americans want to do, because they’re stars, and we’re star-fuckers! And, like I said last week, we’re not very bright, so we need direction — if Obama grabbed Biden for lunch next week and ordered a veggie burger — yes, Sean Hannity will call him a mincing fairy, like he did when Obama used mustard instead of ketchup — like I ever knew one was more manly than the other. Stop caring what Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin will say about you. Be who you really are – a basketball playing, Jay-Z listening, city-dwelling hipster. The only sand trap I want to see you get out of is Afghanistan. And next time you have to get two guys over for a beer, smoke a little weed.

And here is the video:

http://rackjite.com/archives/3780-New-Rules-Bill-Maher,-Obama-quit-with-the-Golf,-August-18,-2009.html

It’s about 7:3o or so.

And after a long, long day at the office, I raced home at about 6:3o to take the dog out for a bit.  We usually go on a nice little run, but the nearly 100 degree heat was enough of a deterrent for me to just take him to the dog park instead.  He runs around until 7:15 or so and we head back.  But instead of going directly home, we pit-stop at the Harris Teeter around the corner from the house to get some things.  Shampoo, spinach, some tuna, a bottle of oj, you know, just some stuff.

Leaving the Teeter and turning up 17th street to head home, I notice that 17th is completely blocked off, Euclid Street is also closed to traffic all the way to 16th, and there literally exist 15 fire-trucks and hordes of firemen walking around.  I asked one of them if there was a fire somewhere as I couldn’t see or smell anything.  He replied that “we’re here just to keep the public safe.”  (Interestingly, as he said that I thought to myself that all they were really doing was blocking traffic and keeping people from getting to where they were going.)

Anyways, so I turn the corner and begin to walk up the steps of my courtyard to go home when 2 of the firemen shout at me.

“You can’t go in there.”

Confused, I told them that I lived there and I was going home.  They told me that someone reported ‘strange’ fumes and that they were investigating.  They actually needed to see which unit was mine before letting me through.  So as I walk up the steps and fumbled with my keys to open the door, I looked toward the end of the courtyard only to see another 15 or so firefighters in full HAZMAT gear, with all their instrumentation looking around our electrical room, looking down in the garage, etc.  Clearly they were just doing their job and trying to identify the source of the mysterious fume, but it was an interesting sight.

Needless to say, I walked toward them to figure out what was going on.  Being the condo board president, I felt I had a duty to my fellow residents to better understand the situation so I could accurately answer the questions that I knew would arise later.  And as I walked, it dawned on me that one of our neighbors on that side of the building had contractors in his unit earlier in the day.  I only remembered because I saw the Hardwood Floor repair truck parked out front on my way to work and remember seeing a giant drum of polyurethane sitting right in front of the unit.

I told them, “guys, I’m not trying to interrupt official fire department duties, but the guy in here had people fixing his floors earlier today.”

They looked at me with a look on their faces that was priceless — just like a MasterCard commercial.   It was as if each one of them simultaneously thought to themselves, “you’ve got to be fucking kidding — we are out here in 90 degree weather in full HAZMAT suits — because someone redid their floors!”

I told them I had a key to the common hallway for that unit and that I would grab it.  As the fireman unlocked the door, he literally almost fell over as the stench was so strong.  All of their instruments started beeping like crazy!  It reminded me of a documentary I had seen on the National Geographic Channel about  the Chernobyl disaster and how even now, decades after the accident, geiger counters still go bonkers!  They ended up breaching the doors of both units to make sure no one was passed out inside and opened up all the windows to let the place air out.

Their best guess was the the heat evaporated the polyurethane more quickly than normal — and that it was all trapped inside and began to seep out.  That or perhaps the floors were still wet with thinner when the polyurethane was applied.  They couldn’t know for sure, but did know that it took nearly an hour before they felt comfortable letting people on that side of the building back into their units.

The random stuff that happens in your day…

I mean, what’s not to like.  There are different “sections” for all the various parts of your meal.  There is a designated area for soy, wasabi, or other condiments.  There’s a lid to keep your food warm, or cold, or simply all in one place.  I don’t know, maybe I was really hungry today at lunch and really connected with my Bento, but I was ready to ask the guy at Teaism if I could buy a couple of them from him right then and there!