The winning streak that might hockey team had going was short-lived.   We played the first place team in the league last night, and despite it being close through two periods, the final score was 7-2.   I think we gave up in the third when the score became 5-2, so it was really   much closer than the final score indicates.   I just noticed that our team is no longer listed in last place, though last night’s results are not included.   I hope it stays that way, though we still have nine games left in the session so anything is still possible.

I put together a video of Kim’s brother’s trip using photos and video clips we took throughout their stay.   If you haven’t already seen it on Facebook, I’m embedding it below for your viewing pleasure.

I did the same thing last year, and if you haven’t already seen that video, here it is.

This past weekend, three of Kim’s brothers came out for a visit. They arrived late on Friday night, and after picking them up, we headed back to our house to rest for the early morning wake-up call. We left before seven the next morning and drove up into the mountains for the long weekend. We only hit a little bit of traffic, and made it all the way out to Beaver Creek before nine. We enjoyed a full day of snowboarding and skiing there and covered most of the mountain. The lift lines were surprisingly small, so we were easily able to get over fifteen runs in before leaving.

Later that evening, we drove back to Breckenridge, where we had a condo reserved for the rest of the weekend. We unpacked our bags, cooked up a spaghetti dinner, and most of us fell asleep watching TV by ten that night. The long day had taken its toll. We all headed to bed at a decent hour to rest up for the next day on the slopes at Breckenridge.

Our condo was a very short walk to one of the lifts at Peak 9 of Breckenridge, where we started our Sunday morning. We immediately noticed bigger crowds than we had experienced the day before, but we made the most of it. It wasn’t until we ventured over to Peak 7 that we found the biggest crowd of the day. Unfortunately, this is a really fun part of the mountain, so we braved the crowds and stayed on those slopes for most of the afternoon. Originally we planned to go back to the condo for lunch, but when we were hungry, we were way too far away to get back quick. Instead, we stayed out for a few more runs, and then called it an early day.

We heated up some frozen pizzas for lunch/dinner after getting back to the condo. After eating and cleaning up, we ventured out to the old town area of Breckenridge. We hit up a few different bars and restaurants for a couple of drinks along with some video games and entertainment. Again we weren’t out very late after a tiring day on the slopes.

Again we got up early on Monday morning so we could pack up the car and then hit the slopes one more time. The crowds were much lighter this day, and the Ullr had blessed us with a few inches of fresh snow overnight to enjoy throughout our last day. We hit the parts of the mountain that we didn’t the day before, and had yet another great day at Breckenridge. We were off the slopes by two and our way back to Denver. It was yet another great trip for the Hais brothers.

Peak 9 on Dwellable

The latest release from O.A.R., Rain Or Shine, debuted this past Tuesday.   Here’s the description of the album that I put together for oarsa.org:

Recorded over two nights of the summer 2009 tour at Chicago’s Charter One Pavilion, Rain or Shine almost didn’t come to pass. After an amazing first show on June 18th the band was facing ominous skies and a challenging weather forecast. The crowds had been kept outside of the venue for their own safety and it seemed likely that the show would need to be postponed or canceled. Yet when the time came to make the final call, two hours after the original door time, there was no doubt from the band that they were determined to make it happen – Rain or Shine. The four disc set that makes up Rain or Shine contains 37 tracks and over four hours of music with both electric and acoustic versions of “Shattered” and “That Was a Crazy Game of Poker.” Also included are two previously unreleased tracks, “Tonight,” the first song the band ever wrote, as well as “Rhythm of your Shoes.” As a special bonus, the recording includes a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Fool in the Rain” with Robert Randolph.

Now that I have finally taken a couple of listens to the live four disc package, I can honestly say that it is one of their finer pieces of work to date.   “Tonight” has always been a favorite track of mine, and I’m glad to finally have a flawless copy of it to listen to.   The five song acoustic set to start of the second disc is a nice touch and shows the varying styles of the band.   The mix of the album is wonderful, sometimes too good.   At the beginning of “Delicate Few” you can hear the crowd really try to ruin it when half of the crowd doesn’t know how the intro is sung.   Overall, this is definitely one of their best live releases that they have put out.   It is definitely worth the special $15 price from Target or a quick download from iTunes.   Plus the cover-art is incredible:

After last night’s game, my hockey team actually has a winning streak!   This may actually be enough to move us out of last place for the first time this session.   Our opponents last night were another team at the top of the standings, so things are definitely changing for the good with our team.   We’ve added a really good player to our roster, and even if he isn’t scoring a ton, he really opens up the ice for the rest of us.   He did finish the game with a hat-trick last night, after putting in a last second empty net goal.   I can’t remember the exact score, but it was another high scoring game.   I didn’t get any of the goals, but I did have an assist off one of our player’s face-mask to help with the first goal of the night.   I’ll take it.

With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I forgot to mention yet another website that I am currently putting the finishing touches on. Greater Cincinnati Housing Evaluation Service’s website is now live at www.gchomeinspector.com. This is the website that I created a flash graphic for a couple of months ago.   The layout and content is pretty much finished, though I may try to get some additional images added. Recently I’ve just been spending time getting the sitemap submitted to Google, along with Analytics setup, and other things to make sure that the site ends up getting some traffic from search engines.   I’m pretty much caught up on web projects, so feel free to spread my name around to anyone looking.

I’m so glad that Chuck is back on the air again, finally!   If you don’t remember, there was a big online campaign to keep the show alive late last spring.   The third season started earlier this week with a two-hour special on Sunday night followed by an hour-long episode last night in its normal time slot.   I was a little nervous that the show might “jump the shark” but I have been really impressed with the storyline so far this season.   I don’t want to give much away, in case there are those that still have it on the DVR.   All of the action and comedy that was there before is still there, and perhaps even improved upon.   If you haven’t started watching this show, there is still time to get addicted, all the episodes are available for viewing on the official site.

After my hockey team’s disappointing shootout loss last Wednesday night, we quickly rebounded the next night.   We were scheduled to take on one of the top teams, a team with some players I used to play with, in a makeup game from a cancellation a few weeks ago.   We actually won our first regulation game, with a huge score of 9-3.   None of our players had a hat-trick, but a few of them had two goals.   So the scoring was spread around pretty well.   I added an assist to my stats and now have one goal and six assists, good enough to be in the top five point scorers on the team.

Unfortunately, the winning could not be extended to the University of Denver hockey game we attended on Friday night.   We arrived just a few minutes into the game, and DU was already up by a goal.   While waiting to climb the steps to our seats, we watched the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves score a goal to even the score at one.   This was all before the first five minutes of the game.   However, the scoring ended there, and the game even went through a scoreless overtime period.   I was expecting DU to crush UAA, so the tie was a big disappointment.   We watched the same UAA team unexpectedly beat DU last year too.

If I had to pick a current favorite band, it would absolutely be The Avett Brothers.   Their latest release, I and Love and You, has been listened to countless times, and one of their tracks made an appearance on this years NOW That’s What Ed Calls Music.   I hope that you have heard at least that track, and I would highly encourage purchasing the entire album.   Their Wikipedia page describes the band as a mix of “bluegrass, country, punk, pop melodies, folk, rock and roll, honky tonk, and ragtime…”   It really is an album full of nearly every style imaginable, and everyone should at least find one song that they enjoy.   My bet is that you will fall in love with their entire catalog.

Last night my hockey team had our first game in a few weeks, and it went surprisingly well. The other team came out fast and scored a goal just a few shifts into the game.   However, we quickly rebounded and had a 4-1 lead around the start of the third period.   Unfortunately, our juice ran out there and we allowed our opponents to crawl back into the game.   With just a couple of minutes to go, they evened the score at 4, and that’s where it stood at the end of regulation.   We had our second overtime shootout game in a row, but unfortunately this one did not result in a win.   With none of the early shooters scoring, it went down to the fifth shooters.   The other team got a goal, and our player nearly missed his.       We were tied for last with this team, and unfortunately we are all alone in last place now.

I am happy to report that I won 1st place in a few fantasy football games though.   I won both NFL pick’em games.   And even though I was finally eliminated in the survivor league with my Broncos over Chiefs pick, I still ended up winning that game as well.   I also finished 3rd in the salary cap game.   Keeping it in the family, Kim had a big 1st place finish in yet another regular fantasy football league.   I ended up finishing in 4th of 8 teams in that league, so at least I was in the top half.   I’m happy to add some more trophies to my trophy case!