New Oilers Job Posting:

I tip my cap to the individual who can accomplish all of the tasks listed in this job description in a 40hr week.  Or an 80 hr week.  Or a 120 hr week.  I'm assuming there's an opening because of a nervous breakdown?

My favorite part of the listing is this:

Write articles and features for the Oilers website and Oilers publications and the general public

So does this mean I can call and request, as a member of the general public, a feature on Shawn Horcoff for my own use?  What a nice service!

Knuckleballers are All-Stars too!

I'm delighted by the news that Tim Wakefield will be one of the six Red Sox players (including Horc's buddy Jason Bay) playing in the 2009 MLB All-Star Game.  Wakefield, a 42-year-old knuckleballer, has been an integral part of the team since I first started watching them in '95. This will be Wake's first All-Star Game, which is somehow unsurprising, as he has always been excellent at a very low profile.  I had the pleasure of meeting him at a fan event in 1999, and he was polite and painfully shy.

Wake is probably the current greatest athlete benefactor of sick kids in New England (though I'm happy to say he has many rivals for the title) and his dedication to the rugrat crowd is reciprocated heartily. Every time I have been to the giant souvenir store across Yawkey Way from the Park, someone behind the counter is promising a parent that they'll have more #49 shirts in x tiny kid size in "by Monday, they just sell out so fast."  Anyone that under the radar with that many little kids worshipping him anyway has got to be doing something right, and it's delightful to see the League acknowledge it.  Congrats, Tim!

Roloson to the Islanders?

Harrumph. This day is just annoying me more and more.

I'll miss you, Crazy Eyes. Sorry you're going to one of the most obnoxious arenas in the league.

Happy Canada Day! Free agent drama for all!

I love poutine.  As a lifelong resident of North America South, I was not exposed to it until D brought me home to Edmonton to meet his family.  Since then, I have been trying to make up for lost time, as far as poutine is concerned.  Here in Austin, one grocery store actually carries squeaky cheese curds, though somewhat unreliably.  Our original plan for celebrating Canada Day 2009, was to make poutine, because "it's Monday" also works around here as an excuse for such. Alas, no curds at the store, so we have settled for a 750ml Unibroue Trois Pistols, a Terry's Chocolate Orange, homemade maple shortbread cookies, and worrying about the free agent market.

I am unabashedly disappointed that the Sedins will not be coming to Edmonton.  I know it wasn't much of a risk, but still, it would have been lovely to have them in Copper and Blue and I was mentally drawing up lines around the Sedins +1 and Horc and Hemmer +1 and sighing ecstatically.

Ah well.  This Heatley business is bewildering and seems to have no happy resolution. Perversely, if it does go through, I will miss Laddi the most.  He's a feisty player, and has an air of the undersized underdog trying to prove his credentials and courage, so much so that I mentally clock him at several inches shorter than his rightful 6'3".

To all I wish a day filled with good libations, celebrations, and constant applications of F5 to the TSN homepage.

To anyone kind enough to still visit this languishing blog for updates, my sincere apologies for my lengthy and unplanned (a now-resolved personal medical debacle) hiatus.  I'm back to posting at least sporadically: preferable (I hope) to not at all.

Job Opening: Oilers Mascot

The Oilers are offering a new job with the organization, on the heels of (much smaller) coaching announcements in the last 48 hrs:

We are currently seeking enthusiastic and motivated individuals to help promote our team as our mascot at various events in the community. No experience as a mascot is necessary; however, preference will be given to those with some acting or public promotion experience. • Hours of work will vary, including mornings, evenings and weekends. • $12/hour. • Costume supplied. Training is provided for those who enjoy greeting/working with families and the general public

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I have to say, the Oilers must be footing a lot of overhead these days, if all they can offer for the honor of dressing up in a fuzzy (?)  costume of a design yet to be revealed is $12/hr in Alberta's economy...

Alumni Gossip

Rachel Hunter and former Oiler Jarret Stoll will marry this summer, in Northern California, according to People.  Congrats to the happy couple.

Properly Accessorizing Fanships

Back in February/March I traveled to Santa Barbara for a few weeks with D for his work. We did it as a roadtrip from TX, and it was pretty fun, except for the part where my wallet was stolen out of my bag on the UCSB campus at the end of the first week. 

I needed a cheap replacement to tide me over until I got home (Of course, ID and credit cards were another, hairier matter altogether), so I found myself glumly examining my options in The Saddest Target Store Ever(TM)  in Ventura, CA and was amused by the inadvertant shout-out to the Copper and Blue this seemed to represent.  Since I'd already had one wallet boosted from my current bag, a little zipper action would ease my paranoia.  Also, I'd have something to dig loonies out of the next time I was at Rexall Place and needed a hotdog.

Finally, it seemed reasonable in the interest of parity, as this is my go-to carry-on bag when I travel.  (I sewed it myself, after spending eight years debating the best deployment of this now discontinued logo fabric.)

Confess: What extremes have you worn or made in the name of representing?