"I don't think I'm in here..."

I wasn't planning to come home this weekend, but I'm really happy I did. The Puck Drop spec-tac-u-lar was pretty awesome. My brother was volunteering with UNYTS since a family friend is a VP of something or other, so we were there super early. Good ol' Catholic schools and their service requirements.

We had pretty close seats, but not pretty great seats. I've only sat in the 100's twice, and neither was that close to the glass (we were 6th row today). I realized today that you can only pretty much see your end of the rink, but whatever. I guess I'm spoiled by seeing everything from the 300's. And that sounds silly to say, ha.

Stupid glass things wouldn't let me take a picture of Rookies 1, 2 and 3.

I liked watching the scrimmage, even though I'm pretty sure I had no idea who most people were. Two different colors with some of the same numbers but no names. Besides the regulars, and then Nathan Gerbe and Tyler Myers, who worked by height alone, it was all guessing from there. I did like the kids behind me and their reasoning, "He looks like he's not American." Genius!

I noticed Teppo and Thomas Vanek both didn't play... Vanek wasn't in the jersey unveiling either but still signed autographs. Go figure. Anyway, according to the Buffalo News, Vanek and Goose are a little beat up.
Oh, and there was no logo at center ice, and no ads on the boards. I know it's just preseason, but it seemed super weird.

Then the jersey unveiling. I loved the intro video clip and then the theatrics along with it... dry ice, RJ announcing, the clips along with each player (even though the whole 'pick up your head really quickly then look at the camera and smirk/stare' was pretty amusing), everything. Every player who came through the zamboni entrance and onto the ice just made it feel like hockey season again.
I also loved the cheering for Teppo, which was easily the loudest, and a welcome for Craig Rivet and Patrick Lalime. Just awesome.




I also got sucked in to wating for autographs with my brothers, my sister, and her friends. The first line we were in wasn't that bad (near the section 100 entrance), but when a security guy told us that players were up on the 200 level sections and more tickets were there, I was stuck waiting in line so they could get stuff signed by Mike Weber and Danny Paille. I didn't get to go up but they got my yearbook signed, which was nice even though I had to ask! Then the line next us near Sabretooth's House was announced as Ryan Miller and I think there was a stampede. The staff had 300 tickets for each autograph line around the arena, and what he had left for that was gone in about 15 seconds. And then about a quarter of our line was gone too.

Eventually after waiting for a while, we find out it's Hank Tallinder and Drew Schiestel's line... both very nice. Hank was pretty funny. When he was signing, he said, "Let's put a big one right here..." and did it probably as slow as he could. Or at least that's what it seemed to me. He also made a mark with the sharpie on my page after signing and was like, "Oops! Well, I'll have to fix that." Into a smiley face.

Oh Hank, you're such a jokester.

...and he knows it too.

Then after, somehow we jumped into the last few tickets of what was supposed to be Paul Gaustad and Jason Pominville's line... turns out they had left just a few minutes before we got into the line and it was turned into Tim Connolly and T.J. Brennan. The security guard led me to believe false statements! Evidently their tables were back to back. Anyway, I was disappointed, but it was still good. T.J . Brennan looked at my yearbook and was like, "I don't think I'm in here..." until he actually took it from me, looked through and did find his little blurb. "Oh, wait!" It's okay T.J., just do what your shirt said, hug it out. It'll solve all problems, just ask Michael Scott.

Oh, and I have some videos if anyone wants to check them out. This post is already tl;dr, so let's make it better!



(Please excuse the taping in that one. I guess my youngest brother can't work his own camera.)



All in all, it was a really great time and I'm really glad that the Sabres did something big for the start of preseason/basically hockey season. And now, I'm sooooo much more excited for the season to start. Yay hockey!!

(I have a post talking about Pommer's contract and this summer and real stuff ready to post... eventually. And I'm hoping before the end of the year I can finish my 100 things. Just maybe.)

Yay!

Six more years of the system and puppies and rainbows and bliss!

(PS. I'll have stuff that's not stupid soon. But I'm going home for the weekend so yeah. Sorry so obnoxious. And don't ever go to Blingee, it'll eat your soul.)

Now I never want to play poker again.

I am LOVING my schedule this semester. Yeah, I have a night class on Tuesday and Wednesday, but they're just educational tech classes, no big deal. But that means after 12:20 on Thursday, I am done with classes until 2:30 Monday. Nothing on Fridays... so awesome. If I was the kind to drink and party, look at the time I could have! But what this all relates to, it's probably when I'll be updating the most now besides when I try for game days. Who knows.

Anyway... the list idea Dani had today looked good so I imitated a good idea :)

1) I'm going to a preseason game! It's the 28 against Minnesota and I'm excited. I know it's just preseason, but I've never been to one before. Let's hope my record of winning every Sabres game I've been to still holds... the 7-0 is still intact.

2) The Sabres are now giving everyone the chance to have a player related MySpace! If I still cared/didn't just go on to check band updates and contests, Goose would TOTALLY be my layout.
Related is the postings on the Sabres Facebook page about internships. How I would love to get involved with that, but infortunately I'm not a communications or business or anything related major. Plus I'm not home. One of my friends from Mount who actually goes to school with me now gets to do it and I'm super jealous.

3) I know I'm way late on this, but Mats Sundin signs... with PokerStars. I LOL'ed for a while after being frightened by his slightly uneven looking face.

4) I'm so excited to see Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers. It's their 5th anniversary as a band tour and they are going full out with things. A magazine all about their time together, chances to win all these personal meet and greets, video blogs about behind the scenes things... so awesome. They're gonna be in Rockchester on Halloween (awesome), then I'm roadtripping with my friend to Northampton, MA to see a hometown show the next day. Then they play in Buffalo on November 18. The best part is that it's acoustic and at Ashbury Hall, Ani DiFranco's redone church. It's gorgeous inside and I love it there.
And then before that, I'm working the merch table/get in free for Matt Nathanson on October 14. If you haven't heard of Matt, definitely check him out. He's getting much bigger with his music on TV shows and all this other wonderful nonsense. If you're going come visit me! October is going to be so awesome.

5) The David Archuleta song "Crush" is so catchy. It's been in my head alllllllll week.

6) The Penguins hand delivered some of their season tickets again, and I have to say I love this picture the most.

I bet you that cat has awesome seats.

7) We may be behind here at school, but I will never get sick of this video. All of my friends have resorted to quoting this almost 24/7. Can I have your numba? Can I have it?

8) There are only 29 days until Sabres season. And only 9 days until camp and the like. Thank god.

And the third jersey has been confirmed as the one leaked on message boards/TBN. Besides the weird piping near the arms, I'm a fan. 9 more days, for serious.

It's a hard knock life for this blog.

Poor little BAGMG. I've neglected you so much, I'm surprised I haven't been contacted by social workers or something.

My concert weekend was AMAZING. Jack's Mannequin was so great (and $5 great bands for $25!), OneRepublic is awesome live and John Mayer is a guitar god, seeing Jon Peter Lewis again was good, and Jon McLaughlin is even higher on my favorites list. Plus, he's also one of the sweetest people ever. I'm so glad I finally got to see him live. I have a bunch of videos on my YouTube account and pictures here if you're interested. It was seriously one of the best weeks ever.
Then my family and I went camping in Watkins Glen. I haven't gone camping in forever, so that was fun... but my sunburn was AWFUL. Still fun.

I'm finally back at Fisher. If there's something else besides the hockey season that seemed like it was 80 million light years away, it was going back to school. Not to say that I'm ready for classes (because I'm not!), but it's great to see people again, and move into my room (HUGE upgrade from my freshman dorm). And our food service changed, which is exciting. Yeah, I'm sorry that food is such a big part of my life. I'm Lebanese and a Mountie, which means food is huge, hah.

Speaking of college, I think I have seen about 15 rooms so far with Sabres things, 6 on my floor alone. I'm really hoping there'll be some good game watching parties... I know the girls above us are big fans and if we can't watch together, there will be communication through stomping. I CAN'T WAIT!

But seriously. My phone has a "d-day counter", and according to that, there are only 38 days until the season opener. It seems more like 138, but whatever. At least preseason is in 2ish weeks. And then we have some Bills to hold us over, kinda.

And in closing, still no Pommers news. We know it's happening, I just wish it was sooner. Right now, all I can think of him is in Kayne glasses or Boats 'N Hoes. (If my Photoshop wasn't acting up, there would be some pictures all up in here.) Thanks, Summer Mail Bag. Thanks.

Help!

WANTED: A sport called hockey. Played on ice using skates, sticks and a rubber puck. Involves a number of men from various different backgrounds playing on 30 different teams. Has been missing since June 5. If anyone has any information, please call 1-800-WEHATEVERSUS.

I feel like that little fake wanted ad could be true. This summer/offseason feels like it has been the longest time without hockey in a while. ...Yeah, okay, so it is, but this is like torture. So much so that I even forget about it! I know, what a tragedy! No one should have to go through this.

Seriously though, it feels like the season is still so far away. Even the start of training camp aka Puck Drop or whatever seems like it's months away, when it really only is a month-ish. Throughout this remaining time left before it all starts up again, we have these things to ponder:

• Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego Jason Pominville and his shiny new contract?
• How awesome would it be if the World Juniors were held here in 2011? (I think it would be such a perfect event for us: extra hockey, $$$, seeing future players... awesome.)
• What is Max going to do this season? (After the injuries, talk of trading, etc, I'm pretty interested to see how things go. My opinion is that he'll be back towards his normal self, seeing as that he's not with the all crazy lines like last year.)
  
• What world saving event is Paul Gaustad planning now? (He's single handily helping Russia and Georgia stop their fighting, then uniting them with... something environmently friendly and useful.)
  
• Why is John Mayer so amazing? (Actually, I'll get that answer tonight, woooooooo!)
  

And how have 83 people (or maybe 1 person 83 times?!?) searched for "patrick kane nhl awards sister"? I only have one little post that barely mentions it... I know people want to know what he was talking about but it's also slightly weird, haha.

Okay, September 20, or even better, October 10, you can come anyyyy time now.

I have a problem.

I have to admit, I am not a huge Olympics person. I don't really know why, but I rarely ever watched any games, whether summer or winter. For some reason I started really watching this year... now I would like to say that I'm ADDICTED.
I wake up to get ready for work at 6 in the morning (today's the last dayyyy!), yet I still watch until the very end. Hi, my name is Mary, and I am an Olympics junkie.

- There has been a lot that's great so far. First of all, there's the rowing. My brother rows for Canisius HS and then for West Side Rowing Club in the summer, and it's practically all my parents ever talk about. With Steve Coppola, a West Side guy competing for USA, it's like he's a family member. I've met him at various crew events, and he's another great Buffalo guy. His men's eight boat is defending the gold medal from the Athens games; after winning the repechage on Tuesday, they're moving on to the finals on Sunday. I know that in this house, we'll all be keeping track of that!

- Then of course, there's swimming. That 4x100m relay, like most people have said, was crazy. I think with all the screaming, we woke up the whole neighborhood. Since I'm mostly a Olympics newbie, it was one of the best events I've seen. The trash talking from the French, the epic goal of Michael Phelps, how we weren't supposed to win, etc. Pretty awesome.

I love facial expressions.

- ANDDD... speaking of Michael Phelps and his record breaking amount of medals, the analysis of how he is a perfect swimmer made me laugh. They covered a lot of ground, like the fact that he has the legs of a 6' tall man, but a torso of a 6'8" man to help him push off the wall, and "dinner size plate" hands and size 14 feet to use as paddles. All they needed to add was that he takes his dog Splash* out for a walk every 3 hours, calls his mom everyday and then they'd have every known fact about the guy. Whatever, NBC.

and then with his 800 foot wingspan, he flew himself to Bejing to cut down on carbon emissions and smog.

- Oh, and Hungarian weight lifting. That's all that needs to be said. Ew.

In other news besides the Olympics, my sister and I made a video to enter a meet and greet contest for the Jonas Brothers. I'm being totally serious. I was a JoBros fan before they were dropped from Columbia and signed with Disney's Hollywood Records (they were pretty great in concert opening for The Veronicas way back when!), and we thought it'd be funny to do it. I think it's too late for consideration, but it's great. We're our own sisterly band looking for our competition/another family band, and we "travel" to NJ and other places to try and find them. I'm surprised we actually even did it, but it was fun.

This Puck Drop Sabres event sounds pretty awesome. I'm hoping I can come home for it, because who can miss training camp and all that other fun stuff. It's going to be a mad house with the tickets on sale and then everything else, but that basically sums up my fan status.

In closing, reader from Gilbratar, you are awesome.

* I don't know his dog's name, and if he even has a dog. I feel like it's stereotypically fitting.

Wait, it's summer?

Is it sad that I want to go back to school so I'm not so busy? There has been so much going on this summer, and especially these past 2 weeks.
I've been working at a special education summer school which is surprisingly fun (though exhausting), I've had 80 billion appointments before school starts, and then this week my brother Joey riding his bike got hit by a racing cyclist.
Yeah, weird situation, but the guy was going so fast in Delaware Park that he ran into him and my brother got knocked off his bike. Stupid cyclist didn't even stop. He's got some really nasty cuts on his arm and legs... so while my parents are taking him to get stitches taken out and the like, I'm doing a ton of stuff at home. I haven't had a lot of time for anything, and it's super tiring.

Anyway, I have been trying to catch up on news in the sports world. First of all, as most people, I could care less about the Brett Farve ~drama~.

BUTTT...Mike Ryan situation say what? I was really surprised by that, mainly because he was still a Sabre in my mind and just hadn't signed yet. According to the Buffalo News:

Regier said the Sabres had inquired with Ryan about a two-way contract so that he could be sent to Portland but Ryan decided to pursue other options.

We never really knew the super true feelings that he had about Buffalo, since he wasn't one of those spotlight players. But it seems like he didn't want to be stuck in the role of the two-way guy or not always having a spot, and that's understandable. Whatever he was thinking, he's caused a broken heart and I hope he can live with that. I'm so sorry, MJ!

I'm also super happy with the Teppo resigning. I think it's a great move to have him back as a leader for the team, and also for the defense. He seemed like he was the solid rock for the blueliners, and it showed when he wasn't there last year.
Quick story... the day Teppo came back to practices, he was one of the first people out there. Mike Funk was still playing with us, and he came out right after. Never playing with Uncle Tepps before, he went over and introduced himself, shook hands with him and everything. Not only was it pretty cute (lol), it showed how much respect Teppo gets, and how his presence was missed by everyone on the team.

new BFFS!

No matter if he's a main guy, or the 7th guy who takes a night off every few games, it's definitely good!

Now, unless there are more unforeseen setbacks, this and next week will be a good one. Summer school ends on Friday, I'm going to the fair on Wednesday to see my sister's/my old jazz band play... then next week is Jack's Mannequin (can't wait!!!) along with John Mayer and OneRepublic (even more excited!!!)! And school starts not too soon after that, which I'm actually really excited for. Not so much the classes, but the seeing everyone and all that jazz. It's going to be a fun end of the summer.

And if it would EVER stop raining, it'd almost be perfect.