Getting Some Props

Sports Illustrate has a nice article on the Preds. It touches on the fact that there's a lot of Wings fan in the area (with the Saturn & Nissan plants nearby). What it doesn't say is that Wing fans are bad but Predwing fans are even worse. They show up at every other game in their Predators gear but when the Wings are in town they are suddenly wearing that strange wheel wing thing (I know it's sacrilege to say such a thing about a original 6 team... but obviously I don't care).

I Didn't Believe My Eyes

I was watching the Tennessee vs. Florida game on ESPN & all of the sudden Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt and her assistant coaches come out dressed as cheerleaders. She started out by singing Rocky Top & let's just say, it's a good thing she gets paid the big bucks to coach... she's not a singer. Then she & the assistants did a pyramid stunt & help the cheerleaders out with the usual UT cheers. The crowd absolutely went crazy.

So why did she pull such a crazy stunt? Well, it's this crazy thing called school spirit & it seems to be at an all time high on the UT campus since the hiring of UT men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl. About a month ago, Coach Pearl showed up when the Lady Vols played #1 ranked Duke. And to show his school spirit, he & some of his assistants & players came out in orange body paint. It was a absolute hit among UT fans (& I should know because I was there)! So it was only fitting that coach Summitt return the favor.

Update: I finally found something on the web about Coach Summitt's stunt.

A Little Good News

Every now & then you've got to read a feel good story to balance all the craziness in the world so here you go. Read about the divas at the Elephant Sanctuary. And if you feel have a few extra dollars burning a hole in your pocket, visit the gift shop (or just make a donation) to help the girls.

I don't understand...

Granted I haven't paid a lot of attention to the story of the climbers found on Mt. Hood today but why did they have their dog with them??? From what I understand, climbing Mt. Hood especially in February is not a walk in the park. Why would you take a dog on such a trip? With all that said, I'm really glad everyone was found & no one was seriously hurt.

They're trying it agian

I heard this morning on the radio that the U.S. mint was trying it again.... dollar coins. I personally think coin dollars are a great idea. I used pound coins in the UK last summer & didn't find it difficult at all. Plus in the long run, coins are more economical to produce because they will last longer.

That being said, once again this will not work. The only people who will get the coins will be coin collectors. Until the government's willing to remove dollar bills from circulation no one will actually use these coins.

The Marching Orders

The Predators just received very clear marching orders from the owner... in the form of Peter Forsberg. This year, just making it to the playoffs will not be enough. When you're willing to trade 2 former first round draft picks (Scottie Upshall & Ryan Parent) as well 2 future draft picks, it better not be one & out. Apparently this is the year that they're seriously going for that big shiny thing & he's one of the best players to ever play the game. I hate to see either of these players go but... Upshall's shown glimpses of why he was picked in the first round. Parent's still playing in junior hockey in Canada but I've heard nothing but great things about him. But wow... Peter Forsberg! Let me say that again PETER FORSBERG!!!!!!! And now I'm going to go dance around the room.

After the Grammy's

Well it looks like it was a good choice to not live blog the Grammy's. I spent a bit of the night getting immersed in the what/if/how's of a potential Predator's trade for Peter Forsberg. As of now, there's still no word on if it will materialize. But as soon as I read a particular message board post from a guy I know who I know has some inside connections, I was hooked on finding out everything I could.

Now back to the Grammy's. I remembered why I liked & why I didn't like to watch. For the most part, the music was good. The speeches & awards... boring. And I get very competitive. I want all my picks to win & when they don't, it's almost like my team losing a game. Any way, the Police were great. Gnarls Barkley was very cool. Mary J. Blige was awesome & I don't know why I didn't pick her to win some awards. The rest seem to be a jumbled mess in my mind.

So let's see how I did (winners are in bold)...

Record of the Year:
My pick: You're Beautiful-James Blunt
Probable winner: Not Ready To Make Nice-Dixie Chicks

Album of the Year:
My pick: St. Elsewhere-Gnarls Barkley
Probable winner: Taking The Long Way-Dixie Chicks

Song of the Year:
My pick: Jesus, Take The Wheel-Carrie Underwood
Probable winner: Not Ready To Make Nice-Dixie Chicks

Best New Artist:My pick: Chris Brown
Probable winner: James Blunt
Actual winner: Carrie Underwood

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
My pick: Unwritten-Natasha Bedingfield
Probable winner: You Can Close Your Eyes-Sheryl Crow
Actual winner: Ain't No Other Man- Christina Aguilera

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance:
My pick: Waiting On The World To Change-John Mayer
Probable winner: Bad Day-Daniel Powter

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal:
My pick: Over My Head (Cable Car)-The Fray
Probable winner: Over My Head (Cable Car)-The Fray
Actual winner: My Humps- The Black Eyed Peas

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals:
My pick: Hips Don't Lie-Shakira & Wyclef Jean
Probable winner: Promiscuous-Nelly Furtado & Timbaland
Actual winner: For Once In My Life- Tony Bennett & Stevie Wonder

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal:
My pick: Steady, As She Goes-The Raconteurs
Probable winner: How To Save A Life-The Fray
Actual winner: Dani California- Red Hot Chili Peppers

Best Rock Song:
My pick: Chasing Cars-Snow Patrol
Probable winner: Lookin' For A Leader-Neil Young
Actual winner: Dani California- Red Hot Chili Peppers

Best Rock Album:
My pick: Broken Boy Soldiers-The Raconteurs
Probable winner: Stadium Arcadium-Red Hot Chili Peppers

Best Alternative Music Album:
My pick: St. Elsewhere-Gnarls Barkley
Probable winner: St. Elsewhere-Gnarls Barkley

Best Female Country Vocal Performance:
My pick: Kerosene-Miranda Lambert
Probable winner: Jesus, Take The Wheel-Carrie Underwood

Best Male Country Vocal Performance:
My pick: Would You Go With Me-Josh Turner
Probable winner: The Reason Why-Vince Gill

Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal:
My pick: Boondocks-Little Big Town
Probable winner: Not Ready To Make Nice-Dixie Chicks

Best Gospel Performance:
My pick: Made To Worship-Chris Tomlin
Probable winner: Victory-Yolanda Adams

Best Gospel Song: My pick: Mountain Of God-Third Day
Probable winner: Mountain Of God-Third Day
Actual winner: Imagine Me- Kirk Franklin

Best Short Form Music Video:My pick:Here It Goes Again -OK Go
Probable winner:Here It Goes Again -OK Go

Well, I didn't do too bad... if you combine my picks & the probable picks (61%). Now only 17% of my picks were correct.

Well I'm off. Got to go see if there's any new trade news.

The Grammy's

I like the majority of the people in the America watched the Super Bowl last Sunday. In the midst of all the football & funny commercials was a few commercials hyping the Grammy Awards tonight. In particular, hyping the reuniting of the Police! So for the first time in years, I will be watching. At first I thought it would be fun to try to "live blog" but I know me. I'd get distracted and forget what I was doing. So instead, I'm going to let you know who I think should win a few of these awards (as well as who will probably win). Some categories I don't know enough about the songs/albums nominated to have an opinion & others I don't care enough to have an opinion. You can find the complete list here

Record of the Year:
My pick: You're Beautiful-James Blunt (with Crazy-Gnarls Barkley a close 2nd)
Probable winner: Not Ready To Make Nice-Dixie Chicks

Album of the Year:
My pick: St. Elsewhere-Gnarls Barkley (have to admit of the nominees this is the only one I've heard the entire album)
Probable winner: Taking The Long Way-Dixie Chicks (they are Grammy darlings after all)

Song of the Year:
My pick: Jesus, Take The Wheel-Carrie Underwood (by far the best song on this list)
Probable winner: Not Ready To Make Nice-Dixie Chicks (only because Grammy voters don't seem to like mainstream country)

Best New Artist:
My pick: Chris Brown (just because this category seems to have a bit of a curse on those that win & I don't want any of the others to suffer the curse)
Probable winner: James Blunt

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
My pick: Unwritten-Natasha Bedingfield (LOVE this song but KT Tunstall a close 2nd)
Probable winner: You Can Close Your Eyes-Sheryl Crow (another Grammy darling)

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance:
My pick: Waiting On The World To Change-John Mayer (James Blunt a close 2nd)
Probable winner: Bad Day-Daniel Powter (this song was everywhere & a major "ear worm"

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal:
My pick: Over My Head (Cable Car)-The Fray
Probable winner: Over My Head (Cable Car)-The Fray (for once I think I may agree with the mainstream)

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals:
My pick: Hips Don't Lie-Shakira & Wyclef Jean
Probable winner: Promiscuous-Nelly Furtado & Timbaland (the song of the summer)

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal:
My pick: Steady, As She Goes-The Raconteurs
Probable winner: How To Save A Life-The Fray (I could've easily picked this one too)

Best Rock Song:
My pick: Chasing Cars-Snow Patrol (one of my favorite songs from my favorite album of the year)
Probable winner: Lookin' For A Leader-Neil Young (only because I'm sure Grammy voters want to make a political statement at some point)

Best Rock Album:
My pick: Broken Boy Soldiers-The Raconteurs (the only album I've heard in entirety)
Probable winner: Stadium Arcadium-Red Hot Chili Peppers (the songs I have heard are good)

Best Alternative Music Album:
My pick: St. Elsewhere-Gnarls Barkley (you can't help but love these guys)
Probable winner: St. Elsewhere-Gnarls Barkley

Best Female Country Vocal Performance:
My pick: Kerosene-Miranda Lambert (I don't listen to a lot of country so I'm only picking this because they would play it before Preds games last season)
Probable winner: Jesus, Take The Wheel-Carrie Underwood (to make up for not giving her record of the year)

Best Male Country Vocal Performance:
My pick: Would You Go With Me-Josh Turner (I love this guy's voice)
Probable winner: The Reason Why-Vince Gill (another Grammy darling)

Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal:
My pick: Boondocks-Little Big Town (my favorite country song of the year - yes I was born & raised in the Boondocks & proud of it)
Probable winner: Not Ready To Make Nice-Dixie Chicks

Best Gospel Performance
My pick: Made To Worship-Chris Tomlin (great song)
Probable winner: Victory-Yolanda Adams (most Grammy voters don't know much about this genre & she's the most recognizable name)

Best Gospel Song:
My pick: Mountain Of God-Third Day
Probable winner: Mountain Of God-Third Day

Best Short Form Music Video:
My pick:Here It Goes Again -OK Go
Probable winner:Here It Goes Again -OK Go (who cares if you like the song or not - this video is great)

The Battle of the Boulevard

I forgot to mention to my fellow Lipscomb alumni that "THE" game was played Friday night. And once again, we won! 70-60. Here's some nice articles that the local paper wrote...

The Rivalry
Game Recap
Crazy Kids
Some Background

FYI

I had to change the way comments are handled. I had a few junk email-like comments posted & just don't want that to happen again. So be patient if you don't see a comment show up right away. Until I find an easier way (for me) to handle this I have to approve all comments before they are posted & you know I'm not always in a hurry to do things. Don't worry, unless it's junk or crass, I'll approve it. I already know that not everyone agrees with me.

Beating a dead horse

Nashville's newspaper, The Tennessean, has written several articles in the past month about the attendance to Predator's games. These articles have been gleefully by "traditional" hockey fans in other locations to prove that Nashville's not a hockey town & should've never been given a NHL team. What do I see when I picked up the paper this morning. Front page above the fold is yet another article (I'm not linking it, if you want to read it I've given you all the information you'll need to do a search). It's to the point that I'm starting to believe that the editorial staff at the paper have some kind of personal dislike for this team.

I've been at most of the games this season & was at many of the games last season. Yes, there haven't been a lot of sell out games. Yes, weeknight games have worse attendance than weekend games. However, just looking at the crowds, I've seen overall higher attendance this year even on weeknight games. Is there a mention of that increase in this or any of their other articles. Of course not. Since I do understand that this is a newsworthy story in a business sense, I don't fault the paper for writing an article on it. However, one article could've said everything that needed to be said. Why do they insist on beating a dead horse here? They could be doing something a bit more positive. Like articles about how we've got the #1 team in the entire NHL playing here in this city. That they play a very fast, up-tempo, exciting game that any sports fan would enjoy. And here's another thought, instead of quoting all these people who say they don't get into hockey because they don't understand the rules, how about writing an article explaining the basics of the game.

ok, off soap box now. Got to get ready for tonight's sold out game.

I'm Back

Welcome to the new and improved Random Chickidee!

After taking a bit of a unintentional sabbatical, I think I finally ready to get back to this. You know it's been a while when you have to guess at your password in order to post. Once I finally guessed correctly, I decided to upgrade to the new version of blogger. While I was at it I decided to try out a new layout. You like? Or do you prefer the old?

So what have I been up to... since November? Let's see... Right after Thanksgiving, I got sick (bad enough to go to a doctor). Then there was the stress of not having any Christmas shopping done on top of that. Just after Christmas I got sick again (bad enough to go to a doctor again). This time I told her that I was sick & tired of being sick & tired. So we're trying some different allergy/sinus medicine. So far so good. So between all of that & going to a lot of hockey games & just generally living life, I haven't felt motivated to write. I think I'm finally starting to get that motivation back.

Happy "Thank-you-giving"

I read this in an editorial in US News & World Report

"Giving is integral to the American sense of community. It has traditionally been a key characteristic of our society-"the spirit of mutual helpfulness"..."

To read the editorial in it's entirety go here. And please take a moment to read it. Then think about how you can give to others less fortunate during the holidays (if not year round). If you're stuck on where you can help, here are a couple of places to get you started.

Second Harvest - to help the hungry in your community
or
Mercy Corps - help the hungry around the world

Where Have You Been?

So if there's anyone still checking, I'm sure you've been wondering "why hasn't Sonya been posting?" Well, there's this thing called work... and lots of it. I've spent the last month working 50+ hour weeks. And when you sit in front of a computer that long at work, the eyes start to hurt, & the last thing in the world you want to do is come home & sit in front of the computer. So today's my first Saturday off in several weeks (except for that weekend I visited my parents for their anniversary). So what all's happened since I last posted. Just off the top of my head....

1. The Predators started their season! It was a bit of a rocky start, losing their 1st 3 games. But since then, they've only lost once in regulation & twice in overtime. So going into tonight's game, they have an overall record of 11-4-2. Not too shabby.
2. As a season ticket holder, I got to go to a meet the team party (I'll post photos eventually). I decided that these are really for the kids. Seeing their reactions when they got an autograph was fun. Trying to think of something to say when it was your turn was a bit awkward.
3. UT football is back. And I mean back to the usual (not that aberration that was the national championship year).
4. Candice Parker dunked in the first game of the season. Lady Vols look like they just may have a very good season. But I'm not going to jinx them by saying how far I think they'll go.
5. The Titans are looking more & more like the Oilers of old. Some of the teams moves (both by management/coaches & players) makes me shake my head.
6. The horrible political adds have come & gone. Unfortunately I don't think any politician learned that people don't like them. And I'm already hear people talk about 2 years from now. No wonder government is inept, they're always looking to the future & not taking care of the here & now.
7. Home ownership sometimes stinks. I walked into my kitchen last Saturday only to see the fluorescent light hanging only by the wires in the ceiling. I had a friend from work take it down & he discovered that of course they didn't install it on a stud. Nothing surprises me in this house. Now we just have to get it back up. In times like this, I fondly remember the apartments I lived & how all I ever had to do was call the office to get things fixed.
8. The Arm & Hammer High Performance kitty liter is absolutely horrible. Do not buy it. Smelly, smelly, smelly - even though it says it eliminate s odor.
9. I played bunko for one of the first times & won overall lowest score (& I'll admit, the goal of the game is not to get the lowest score). It's pretty funny that a bunch of Christian ladies are sitting around, rolling dice, hoping to roll 666.
10. I'm in the talking stage with friends of planning another overseas trip next summer. We'll see if it actually happens.

Well, that's all I can think of off the top of my head. It looks like works starting to get lighter so hopefully I'll get back on track. Then again, we are getting into the holiday season so no promises.

Best new show on TV

There's nothing worse than telling people to check out a great new show after one episode only to find out that it was the only good episode. So after watching 4 episodes, I'm ready to tell everyone to check out Heroes - Monday's at 9PM (eastern) 8PM (central) on NBC. Luckily, if you haven't seen the show yet, you can watch the episodes you've missed here. And trust me, this is one of those shows that you have to know what's happened to understand anything. So go... watch it.

Vacation: July 26th

Our day was spent on the lovely Isle of Skye. I think this was my favorite day of the tour. We started off by learning about a tale where a woman who had a disfiguring accident had her beauty restored by putting her head in this stream. If you look closely behind the girl in the black sweater, you will notice that there are a couple of people from our tour group who decided to test out the tale themselves.


And this pretty little waterfall was just a quick stop to fill our water bottles. Once again, it was like herding cats to get us all back on the bus.I just looked in my travel book & discovered this is The Storr. And the point at the right is known as the Old Man of Storr. Along the coast of Skye.
A view of Kilt Rock. Named because the shape of the rocks are like the pleats of a kilt.
Maybe one of the reasons I enjoyed this day so much was I decided to take it easy. So I sat here & enjoyed this view...
And this view...
While Trina & most of the group hiked this thing. If you look midway up at the right, you'll notice some white dots. That's actually the group hiking.
On Skye they allow all the animals to roam free. While we were waiting for the group, we found ourselves in the midst of shepherds herding their sheep. Here's one of them with his dog. We even heard one of them say "that'll do"... just like in Babe.
And here are a few of the many sheep they were herding. Very cute.
And the top reason this was my favorite day of the tour. This was the day,we finally got to see the hairy coos!!! Isn't it adorable? All the girls on the bus were begging Ped to pull off to the side of the road so that we could see them. One of the guys asked what they were used for... dairy, meat? Ped's answer was "tourist". Apparently they don't make good milk or meat.
And once he did, we all jumped off & went traipsing through the pasture. It's a baby coo too!
Here's Trina & one of the baby coos. Because of this trip into the pasture... as well as the lack of fences on the entire island, we got to through the special line at customs to have our shoes sanitized. It was so worth it.
And then we visited the faerie pools. In Scottish lore faeries aren't cute little Tinkerbell creatures. They are fallen angels. You know... like Satan. But still the pools were beautiful.
More of the pools.
And more.

And even more. I don't know exactly how anyone ever find this place. We were in the middle of nowhere. I don't remember seeing any signs and it's not in my book. So sorry, I can't help you if you take your own trip & want to see the pools for yourself.

NOOOOO!!!!!

They're closing my favorite store in the entire city. How can they do this to me? How will I discover interesting new music? (I know... there's the internet but I like to hear entire songs before I buy them.) See what happens when I force myself on a budget & cut out buying music. An entire business goes bankrupt. Let's hope the space is replaced with something like a Virgin Megastore & not another bookstore that sells music on the side (not that I dislike bookstores, I just need employees that are passionate about music when I'm searching for new music).

Vacation: July 25th

And now here's where my memory gets a bit fuzzy. I have all kinds of photos of pretty bens (mountains) & lochs (lakes). And I know that our wonderful tour guide Ped told us the names of all of them. Unfortunately, I don't remember which names goes with which photos. So maybe this is Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in Scotland.
Then again, maybe this is Ben Nevis.
Or maybe even this is Ben Nevis. You get the idea.
Day 2 of the tour, had us taking our longest "wee walk" of the tour. We were told that we would take about an hour round trip to see Steall Waterfall at the foot of Ben Nevis (I admit, my travel book had a photo of the waterfall otherwise I would've just said "a cool waterfall"). Well in what seemed to be a trend for us, once we were off the bus it was like herding cats to get us all back on the bus. I think the trek ended up being more in the 2 hour range (although if I'm wrong I'm sure Trina will correct me).
So here's some photos of our little hike.
That's Trina a bit ahead. And way in the distance is the Waterfall.
Another shot of the waterfall. Ped told us that it was in one of the Harry Potter films. If anyone can remember which movie & what scene, let me know. I'm drawing a blank.
I learned a very important lesson on this walk... always carry a bottle of water. I wasn't expecting this long walk so I didn't have anything with me. Luckily Trina had a bottle & we shared. We even did something I never would think of doing here... we refilled the bottle in this stream. Very good mountain water, I must say. Either that or I was so desperate for water that anything would've tasted wonderful.
And our Harry Potter experience wasn't over yet. Here's the train bridge that they used in the flying car scene in the 2nd movie. And just for good measure, see the construction stuff in the lower left of the photo.
This is how far we actually were from the bridge. I know, great zoom, huh?

And here's what you see looking the opposite direction from the bridge. And I believe it was the real reason for the stop. The tower is a monument for Bonnie Prince Charlie. According to the travel book, it's called the Glenfinnan Monument & commemorates where he formed his "army" in the Jacobite rebellion. Also, according to the book, this loch is Loch Shiel.
And here's Trina taking photos. She's to the right of the girl sitting on the ground.
Here are a few more pretty pictures.
Somewhere between Ben Nevis & the Isle of Skye.

A New Captain

I know all sports have team captains. There's just something about hockey that makes being the captain a bit more meaningful. I don't know if it's the C on the sweater (that's a jersey for you non-hockey fans) or what. Any way, today the Predator's named their new team captain... Kimmo Timonen! And new assistant captains Paul Kariya & Steve Sullivan. I think they made a great choice... although either of the assistants would've been good too.

And just 2 days until opening night. I'll be there in my Timonen sweater. I'm so ready for them to drop the puck!

Darfur

I thought about writing a big long rant about the inefficiency of the UN when it comes to dealing with genocide... but I'll keep that under wraps for now as long as everyone goes & checks out this site Save Darfur.

Education... Compassion... Action.