Title of Journal

2020 is awful

2020-05-03T02:33:41Z

it just is

is this going to work? "publish all photos to entry"

2020-01-22T23:57:19Z

oh my gob

2020-01-01T04:45:36Z

I usually make one post a year and I have twenty minutes left.

They're showing a firefly marathon on a channel called ELREY

Episode 14 is on now. 15 is next. 13 after that. Then 10.

It continues tomorrow at 10 am with episode 11, part 1. Then of course it's episode 12, part 2.

Then episode 1. 2. 6... 7... 3...

I remember episodes were aired on Fox out of order but probably not this bad.

It's 2020 soon. I've been alone for the entire 10s decade. Fun times. At least I have my Dad and a few good friends and family.

I wish someone would log in again and find my journal and remember me. I miss chatting with people. It's weird how these days everyone is online 24/7 but conversations happen less because they don't have to log into the chat program and be available. Waiting 15 hours for a snapchat reply is weird. ANYWAY TIME TO NOT END THE YEAR ALL SAD. Toodles!

dotcomslash @ 2018-06-13T22:14:00

2018-06-14T05:14:16Z

HELLO?!

52 weeks in a year

2017-06-15T22:45:43Z

52 people still have me as a friend here which means approximately 52 people have forgotten about this website.

View Poll: Did you see this??

Golly.

2015-11-04T06:04:39Z

I'm sure nobody is around anymore.

Decision made!

2013-03-24T07:11:48Z

dustyburns

HAPPY NEW YEAR oh wait its march

2013-03-24T06:40:28Z

Well damn, I see livejournal had a bit of a makeover. Then I actually see more than one post in my friends feed. Thought it was all fixed! But no, I can only go back one page. So anything before March 10 is seemingly non-existent. YOU HAVE ONE JOB, LIVEJOURNAL!

Maybe I should create a new account and try that. Should write more at least.

I haven't worked since October 28 - the night the Tigers lost the World Series to ... shit. I can't remember. San Francisco? Yeah. Don't even remember if I posted about losing my other job in August. Oh well. I have training for the new season on Tuesday, and I go in for some test-runs on April 3 and 4 before the home opener on the 5th. At least I had some savings and unemployment. Didn't miss any bills. The credit card is being paid off a bit too slowly.

Ok, maybe I'll create another account and post more baseball related stuff. Then maybe I can follow the 2-3 people here that still post and actually see their entries. Sound fancy?

Hail Soika! (search it.)

dotcomslash @ 2012-08-01T20:36:00

2012-08-02T00:36:23Z

I don't understand this site anymore. Why can I only see two posts on my 'friends' page? I can't view earlier entries.

I checked a random friend's journal and they posted on june 23. That's not that far back. I should see that.

Whatever. Might as well call this place MyJournalSpace.

dotcomslash @ 2011-06-17T16:57:00

2011-06-17T20:57:53Z

So, yeah.... this site.

Get A Life? Nah.

2011-03-11T16:23:54Z

I wish I had the motivation to even care that I do absolutely nothing productive with my life.

I want to say something like "I'm tired of not doing anything." But I'm not.

I wanted to use this to write more and I don't.

I wanted to pick up an old hobby and draw more, and I don't. Aside from one drawing of Kevin Smith I did just to see what it would come out like (not horrible).

I didn't finish all the dark shading because I had nothing but a plain old pencil.

Anyway, I find myself not caring. I suppose it's better I'm just completely apathetic about everything in this world than it would be if I was depressed or had some kind of mental illness causing harm to myself or others. I just kinda wish I disliked myself more.

That's weird.

I'm even apathetic about being apathetic.

Well. In life news, I got my pay increase I waited about 4 months for. Today's check has the 500 hours of retro pay, which is nice. I got scheduled less hours next week, though. Hopefully that's just a one time thing. Though with baseball season coming up (I got a raise there, too) I should be working more. I think we may be getting a bonus like we did last year, I should get something from my uncle's estate being divided up, and I should get another rate increase in or around May just for annual company raises. So that'll be good.

I think this site has really gone bare and fucking tumblr hasn't helped that any. I don't even try to check tumblr out, everytime I see a link, it's just something autoposted from a one-click button. I'd whine about people not putting any effort or creativity into anything, but that would be pretty ironic of me after this post, yes?

I wish you all a happy weekend.

dotcomslash @ 2011-01-10T15:15:00

2011-01-10T20:15:49Z

Just emailed my store manager as it's been a month and another 150+ hours I haven't been given my rate increase. Approaching 300 hours since I switched over in November. Sigh. Nearly $200 I could miss out on.

Chris Osgood

2010-12-28T18:24:23Z

Nobody will ever win the Chris Osgood battle.

One side will say he is a great goalie - a smaller than average guy with an awkward look that still had the ability to reach 400 wins and be a part of three Stanley Cup teams, making the playoffs in every NHL season.

The other side says he is product of a good team (never mind the 84-67-20 record with NYI/STL) and his stats are not indicative of a top-10 goalie, or really, even a good goalie.

Here's my question: Isn't the fact that this argument has been going on for 15 seasons a point for him being a good goalie? Bad goalies don't keep their NHL jobs. The only reason Osgood left Detroit in the first place was because they couldn't pass up the opportunity to get Dominik Hasek, and Osgood was just too expensive to protect for the waiver draft. That's why Detroit fans love him so much, he's our guy. One of many that Detroit drafted, developed and saw win championships. To say that we have blind faith in a poor goalie because we are so biased to our team is silly. Of course we are biased to are team - most are. It means we've also seen Osgood play nearly 550 times. We saw the same center ice shots and awkward two-on one plays where he allowed goals that you saw on highlight shows - but we also saw the brilliant saves in the same games that you didn't. And when he was center stage, playing for the Stanley Cup, which he won twice and lost in Game 7 the other (most goalies make the Cup Final... oh right, never), all anyone could say was "he still sucks." How can we compete with that? That argument is clearly rock-solid. Any decent goalie could win two Cups ten years apart.

I won't deny that had he been drafted by Florida or some other team, he would not have 529 wins, regular season and playoffs. Chances are he wouldn't have lasted on one single team more than a few years, but you know what? That's a Detroit thing. While the Hawks won a Stanley Cup with not a single player that started their NHL career with them before 2005 (Duncan Keith was drafted in 2002), Detroit still has four that were on the 1997 team. Maybe is he somewhat a product of a good team. They have given rings to three different starting goaltenders. Those three are now stacked at 10-12th in all-time wins. Detroit is a great team. So was Edmonton, and so were the Islanders. So was New Jersey, and the list goes on for teams with goalies on the all-time list. Never mind that Osgood reached 400 wins in less games than most. It's all the team. Osgood would probably agree.

He will not catch Martin Brodeur. His size and style will not get his save percentage to an elite level. He may continue to allow iffy goals, like the one scored by TJ Galiardi on Monday night, which put his team down 2-1 in his third attempt to win his 400th game. He may not even make the Hall of Fame. Perhaps all that will be in Toronto is his name on the Cup, and on a list of the most successful goalies of all-time.

I'm fine with that. Keep hating. He's ours.

Wage Rage

2010-12-16T23:07:36Z

I don't use subjects often. I'm proud of this one.

So, work again. Stress level is way down doing just organizational stuff. Could I be making more with commission - maybe. Likely. The problem? I should be making more anyway. After the store manager told me last Friday that he was looking into my questions, I went to see him on Tuesday. He wanted to wait until he had more to go on because he didn't want to talk to me without having facts. Well, all he showed me Tuesday was that he thought I should have had a pay raise twice since 2008. I never thought about it, because I had a couple due to minimum wage going up, a normal raise, plus my small raise after I was with the company for a year. Then in 2009 there was a salary freeze. So I'm not sure what he was going on, but he showed me where he thought I should've gotten raises and how much.

It wasn't as much as I had hoped - I thought my "benefit pay" after I left commission would be the average of what I had been making. A couple girls in my dept. are at 9.90 and 10.05/hour. My last five checks averaged 10.33 - I didn't think I'd be anywhere near that, but I figured maybe at least $9 or so. Apparently I should have gone to 8.54 or something - all the way back in 2008. That confuses me because of the raises I did get; I wish he would have given me a copy of the little chart he showed me. He also said he wasn't sure if the company would give me any reimbursement, even for just the 160+ hours I've worked since leaving the commission rate. It's funny, they have no problem giving people discounts who don't have coupons, letting customers get money back for things obviously washed, worn and seemingly donated to the homeless and stolen back, all to keep business. Yet I'm sure because I'm in a different situation where the store I worked at for over 2 years shut down and I changed positions, I'm just going to get a raise I should've got two years ago. That's what really upset me. He was maybe too honest. He could have just said he was working on getting me a raise, but to now know that according to him, I lost out on about $700 last year and about $90 in January before my store closed kinda sucks.

At the very least, I believe he did say he was going to put in an immediate request for me to go up to 8.54 or whatever, which is nice. But I got my hopes up, which I shouldn't have. I was hoping to get a bonus check before Christmas. Oh well. Gotta appreciate what I do have. I sure don't want 2006 to happen all over again.

TGIF.

2010-12-11T03:25:31Z

Yeah, I said it. I had a good day today, and I'm off for the weekend, SO SHOVE IT. :)

Getting up to be at work at 6 AM wasn't fun, but hey, I had to do that all week so I got used to it. The worst day was Thursday, after having Wednesday off and "sleeping in" until 8. I had a dream Thursday that I woke up at 6:21 and had to work at 6, so I was panicking, which eventually woke me up and I freaked out thinking I had fallen back asleep and I was not dreaming at all, but I made it and I haven't been late since a month ago when I just missed my alarm. For a night person like me, I'm kind of proud that I made it in on time every day!

Since November 24, I've worked at 7 am twice, 3:30 am on Black Friday, 8 am three times, 9 am twice and 6 am five times. Quite a bit different from my normal 3-9 pm shifts at my old store. Next week I have four 7-1 shifts and a 5-11 am shift. Get here fast, January.

But today! I was coming in at 6 am to help with stock, because some chick got herself pregnant and can't lift boxes anymore. So I guess I was volunteered to help since I know the department. So a normal 8-2 (or 7-1 maybe, if we opened at 9) turned into 6-2:30. I got 71 hours on my paycheck, which may not be unusual for some, but for a part time retail worker, it's pretty big. Especially since I had one paycheck to end October with a total of 14 hours. Anyway. Today, there was no stock to do when I got in at 6. So I got some other stuff done. We opened the store and the snow kept people from showing up at 8 AM. Bonus. Then the store manager came by and was chatting with us, and he told me that he was working on what I had asked about. Then he kind of took me aside and said he was upset that I wasn't making more money, and that he was working on something because "It really bothers me when good people don't get what they deserve". I'm just appreciative that he's looking into it, but if I can get a raise and maybe some back-pay, that would be awesome. I've worked about 156 hours since I changed positions, so that's a good chunk of change.

So. No stock. Likely pay increase. Possible back-pay (I'm hoping, but not counting on). The Wings played Montreal and won. I have the weekend off.

Maybe it's not so much a TGIF, but it was a good day.

It's a small world at JCPenney

2010-11-13T03:16:57Z

Stephanie went to the same high school I did, and now lives in the same city I do;
She also knows Chris, who I work with at Comerica Park (who is married to someone I went to HS with)
Alberto works at GameStop, and his boss is a kid I used to hang out with growing up;
Amy used to work very briefly in the Scoreboard department at Comerica Park;
Amanda supposedly used to live in the exact same apartment I am in now.

I'm wondering how many more weird things will pop up.

Perhaps I should just concentrate on monthy posts.

2010-11-12T19:38:50Z

Totally abandoned this site! Seems most people have, my friends feed on livejournal is basically just Barbara's Blog (haha, love ya Barb!). I think I made a post awhile back about how many of my friends on here were active. I wonder what that list would look like now.

I always want to write something in here, but there's nothing going on. I'm starting to work a bit more. I only worked TEN days and 56 hours in October. Our department just has too many people. I talked to the store manager about getting away from selling and commission. The only motivation I have to rush around dealing with more people is a few more bucks a day, and it wasn't worth it to me. One girl that's always one of our top sellers can easily do 1500 a day and get an extra $5.50 an hour or whatever, but I get too frustrated. I always just want to pick up papers and put things away. So now I get to do that. Yesterday, I spent most of my 6 hour shift just re-organizing a whole section of the stock room; it was glorious!

The bad part is that I don't think I'll make as much as I thought. A lot of people talked about benefit pay and how it was an average of what a commission worker had made. However, rather than the average (which over my last 5 paychecks would have been $10.33/hour) I am back to what I made when my old store closed, which is $7.92. Which is like minimum wage of $7.40 plus selling about ... well, have a really bad sales day. But I'm getting more hours so I may just end up ahead of the game anyway. I'm hoping they adjust my rate - I was only making commission for 9 months, but that's not my fault. My old store wasn't commission based. Heck, screw $10.33, I'd be happy with $8.25 or something, considering the company had a salary freeze last year, and this year I got put in commission so I didn't get an annual raise. These aren't really things I could control, and I would assume most people who have been with any company for three years make more than 50 cents above minimum wage.

HOWEVER I am getting more hours, at least right now, and the stress of selling will be limited to just doing register work on weekends. So, we'll see. "At least I have a job," right? I hate that phrase but I do know it's tough to get one, even outside of this state. Ok, that's enough for now.

TGIF? ITFH.

2010-10-08T19:18:53Z

Maybe it's because I've worked only retail and for the Tigers, but the weekend means nothing to me. On Facebook, people are TGIFing like it's the best thing in the world - like their bad, busy week coming to an end means it will not just start right back up again in two days. I always thought the opposite - when I worked retail, the weekend meant more shoppers and busier work. It meant baseball games during the day on Sunday where I'd have to get up earlier. I guess over the past ten years, the days all just melted together. Hell, I worked last Saturday and Sunday, and because of cuts, I have this entire "work-week" off. Mon-Fri. I work tomorrow, Saturday. Next week I only work Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. I suppose people who work "normal" 40 hour work weeks can welcome the weekend, I guess Friday is good for them. You never see people welcome Saturday. It's always Friday. And God. Psh.

The Red Wings season begins tonight. I watched some of four of the five games yesterday. I could say all five but I really only flipped on Edmonton/Calgary for a second. I rarely watch hockey when it's not a Wings game, and even those I skip sometimes to watch regular TV. I never understood the people who watch football, pro or college, with two teams they have no rooting interest in, but somehow they get so excited about it. This year I may try to watch more of the national games.

Speaking of TV, I have some shows I need to catch up on. ITFH (I'm Thankful For Hulu).

I have to learn not so start sentences with "So"

2010-10-05T16:47:59Z

I think Walmart gets a bad rep. You don't see a lot of positive said about them, I think some people are almost afraid of saying something positive and getting backlash for it. All the good stuff I read comes from people who work there. I'd go more if it were a bit closer to my apartment (funny I say that when there is one about 6 miles away and I applied for one 20 miles away). My aunt hates them and I just laugh because the stuff that gets said is not easy to prove. So things get made in China? That's true pretty much everywhere - other stores just overcharge you.

Having said that, I think I'm done with them, but not completely by choice. I am supposed to have a third interview today, and from what I've read, that's when they offer the job and get employees started with drug tests and all that. I read some bad things about Orientation, it seems to be a long process and you have to be there when they say, even for people who do have other jobs. I called and wanted to speak with the assistant manager I met yesterday, or any manager, but the "security" woman told me they were ALL at lunch and that nobody would have time to call me because they were so busy. I was going to tell a manager that it was probably not the best time for me to change jobs, with my store manager on vacation and my department manager having left the store with no current replacement.
I was also hoping they'd keep me in mind once things were more clear, understanding they are hiring for a grand opening and that I didn't want to leave either job out to dry because of double-scheduling.

I finally just told this woman I could not make it in today, to which she replied in about .02 seconds "Not interested?" She asked what my call was regarding, and I told her I'd rather speak to a manager and not have someone hand them a note, it's unprofessional. After being asked a couple more times, I lied and said I got called in to work. Maybe a manager will find the time to call me, maybe not. They may just forget about me. I'll leave it up to them, which is not the best thing to do when trying to get a job, but I tried!

We'll just see if I can get more hours and if nothing changes maybe I will re-apply or call them and ask for a late third interview. Who knows? Right now I'll focus on what I have now and try to get more hours.

Violent

2010-10-05T00:37:08Z

LOL. I put my brother down as a reference usually when applying for jobs because he's been my direct manager before, and he has a different last name, so nobody would know. Well apparently Walmart called him and asked, among other things, if I was violent. That's kind of out of nowhere - I wonder if that company has a history of employee violence.

Canton Trip

2010-10-04T19:12:01Z

Hey! It's funny how every time I get the urge to write in here, it's mainly about work. I suppose that's because my life outside of work is so boring. No girlfriend, no kids, no hobbies.

Hours at JCP are being cut; the last three weeks counting this one, I'm scheduled for about 30 hours. That's total - not per week. 30 hours of work in three weeks. I hate selling, I'd much rather do stock or something, and my commission sales show I'm not aggressive. So I decided, what the hell, I'm going to apply at the new Walmart in Canton. I went for an interview this morning. I forgot how painful that process is! "Describe a situation where you had to come up with a plan, describe the plan, what was the job, how did it affect your task," blah blah blah blah! I went in at 9 and had the first interview. There was another man in the room, and he loved to talk. He started his interview first but I finished mine first. Well, the ONE manager they had doing second interviews took him first, so I waited while he told these detailed stories to answer these questions. SO LONG. I finally went through with my second interview which was just three more of the same BS questions. I've worked part-time retail for ten years, it's hard to remember ONE situation where I had to do whatever it is you're asking. I was trying to remember if any of my previous jobs required this kind of interview. I know I've done them before but I don't think it was for anyone I've worked for.

I also sent an email to my current store manager asking for a different position with more hours, maybe even department manager. Ha, that's a stretch but I think I'd rather be overwhelmed with office manager work than being in customer service/commission. I really don't think I want to work at Walmart, especially 25 miles away. It might be cool to open a brand new store, though.

Anyway, after that I drove around the area where I used to work. I passed a JCPenney there so I decided to go in and exchange my slippers there instead of going into my store. I also got two pair of pajama pants - and they overcharged me. I can't believe I didn't notice until I got home. I wonder if my store would do an adjustment. *Calls store* -- Yep, they said they would. The pants were $3.57 each plus my discount, yet I paid 4.14 and 3.98. How did I miss that?

After that, I went to my old shopping plaza. It's crazy different. They not only have different stores in the strip mall, but new buildings taking over parts of the parking lot. A GameStop, an AT&T store, and some food place. Can't remember the name. Pigley's or something like that? Richardson's is so familiar but so different. Saw a few people who are still there from when I left, even recognized a pharmacy tech who left a couple years before I did back there. He looks like Weird Al with short hair, so it's hard not to recognize him. What else... Oh, I went to Ikea for the first time. Strange maze of a store. Didn't buy anything, though I kinda liked it. All that and I got home around 2 PM - normally I'd still be asleep. Hadn't really worked or needed to be up early for a few weeks, but somehow I got up at 6:30 this morning and was in a surprisingly good mood. I guess I was kind of excited about my job interview but after going through it, really don't want to go for a third.

It's 3 now, I'm not sure if I want to go up and get my adjustment now; I'll probably wait and see if Jan calls me about changing my position. I hope he calls or emails me before Walmart does.

Scratch that. 3:15 - Walmart calls. That was fast. Decisions to be made. They want me to come in tomorrow for a third interview.

3:20 - OH GOOD, Jan is off until the 11th. Fate, do you really want me to work at Walmart?

amyamyamyamy and gail

2010-09-23T06:46:26Z

Heh. I tried finding Gail today, on Myspace and Facebook. No luck. Then again, the last time I emailed her was to ask if she had gotten a previous email, which she did and didn't reply to. It would just be interesting to have a conversation with her. Oh well. I don't feel like I have that many people close to me, so I guess I want to hang on to something, even if it's long gone.

Another long time friend of mine (Amy #1) deleted me on Facebook because of something SHE did and got called out for. So for some reason I think she felt I was to blame for not sticking up for her or something? I don't know.

Another one (Amy #2) decided to just drop all contact with me after getting back with a guy who treated her like crap. I told her she shouldn't let HIM choose her friends and got a pretty snarky reply back. Well, fine then.

I remember after I left Richardson's, a girl I emailed told me that a few of the people there said things behind my back - but conveniently, they were all people she didn't like. So I've always wondered if she was being honest, or just setting her pieces in case there were ever sides to be taken...

WHICH ALSO REMINDS me of another girl (Amy #3, apparently, it's the name Amy that is cursed for me). We used to talk and she called me on the phone one time, and only because there was some drama and she wanted me to take her side. I didn't take sides and the drama passed and all was fine, but suddenly, she won't accept my friend requests.

Ha, there is a 4th Amy, but I don't even remember much about what went on there. I do remember her name, and where she lived. That's about it.

Oh well. Just reminiscing. I think. I'm not even sure what that word is supposed to mean. Positive? Negative? Just another word for memories?

Take care, readers.

Miscellaneous Monday Musings

2010-07-18T04:52:24Z

Nice title, huh? Too bad I just realized today is actually Sunday. Fuck it.

I once started a TV blog to try and write more, and I'd recap episodes I watched, then before the crazy assload of TV that was on Monday nights, I'd have a little rambling party in my own head (and thus, on Blogger.com). I didn't keep up with it really.

http://db-tv.blogspot.com/ Last entry: March 16, 2009. A Monday, no less.

Blogs are strange. They have taken over what people see as a "website." It used to be Angelfire, Tripod and ThatOtherHost bio pages with glittery rainbows and animated dogs. Now, I guess the internet has "grown up" a bit, though you wouldn't know it from 90% of its users. Nobody has a website anymore, they have a blog to go along with all of the social networking sites and smaller sites like tumblr and dailybooth where they want followers. God, how well did those take off? I think Twitter is still one of the simplest, but each one seems to start out like a nice new place to waste 5 minutes. Not for long. Every site has to catch up to the others and try to find that one feature that will take them over the top. But folks, IT'S THE INTERNET. Srsly, as they say, most of these sites are free, so you're not exactly peddling to the main consumers when you try to advance your business. When I remember to come to LJ, I see I have new messages, and they are always from the LJ people telling us what new things they are doing. Why change so much?

Speaking of business. Here's a segue.

I went from making $75 per game with the Tigers to making $11/hour and working maybe 2 or 3 games per homestand. So, if the Tigers were at home for 9 games, compare $675.00 to maybe $121.00 if I work 11 hours in two days. Ouch. I collected unemployment from January-May, so I can probably file an additional claim for this benefit year and make up some of that loss on weeks I don't make much. I don't feel I'm cheating the system or anything with that kind of monetary loss, right? I did lose a job, technically. I'm still employed by them, but far less.

I've had a headache much of the day today. Work was slow and annoying, as two of my co-workers got into a heated yelling match. I get that, shit happens and emotions fly around, but the one girl left at 2 (the fight-starting event occurred around noon) and instead of just trying to let it go, the other woman stayed angry and ended up leaving work shortly after that, when she was supposed to be there until 5. I wonder if I can call in Monday and say "I'm upset, I don't want to work." I happen to like pretty much everyone I work with, but I can tell some of them do not get along with some others. It's just so petty sometimes. I really wonder if those two have past issues or if this event was THAT catastrophic.

This entry is written like:

I write like
Dan Brown

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Mystery Music

2010-07-02T19:27:27Z

So, I burn songs on to a CD sometimes, mostly right before going to a relative's house. I have three different families that all live about an hour away. So I want to hear songs I like, but in a different order. It makes it fresh. I usually just label these discs with something vague like "Aug 2008."

I took an unmarked CD out of my collection and put it in. I have no clue where I got this from. It looks like one of my discs, but I only recognize some of the songs on it. So today I decided to put it in, Google some lyrics and make the playlist:

1 - Never Let You Down, by Verve Pipe *
2 - Waiting on an Angel, by Ben Harper
3 - Feels Like Home, by Chantal Kreviazuk
4 - Colorblind, by Counting Crows *
5 - Hands Down, by Dashboard Confessional
6 - Fire Escape, by Fastball
7 - Over My Head, by The Fray *
8 - Such Great Heights, by Iron and Wine
9 - When I Talk To You, by Mandy Moore
10 - Prime Time Deliverance, by Matthew Good Band
11 - Northern Sky, by Nick Drake
12 - Nearness of You, by Norah Jones
13 - This Years Love, by David Gray
14 - Chasing Cars, by Snow Patrol *
15 - Make Damn Sure, by Taking Back Sunday
16 - Always Something, by Switchfoot
17 - Every Moment, by Rogue Wave
18 - Only You, by Yaz (Yazoo)
19 - The Promise, by When In Rome

Now, I must have received those other 15 songs from someone. Pretty romantic songs, wouldn't ya say?

So, as far as I can tell, the most recent of these songs are Chasing Cars and Over My Head. Both of those singles got big in 2006.

I think I might know who sent these to me... maybe.

Looking Back (A Hockey Post)

2010-06-18T05:20:48Z

As I watched Game Six of the Stanley Cup Final, I thought about 1997. I thought about how Detroit had to get to the Final and lose before they won the Stanley Cup, and how Philadelphia had the chance to do something similar. I then wondered how the 96-97 Flyers team was represented in the NHL right now.

Rod Brind’Amour currently plays for the Hurricanes. He played 80 games last season and despite turning 40 this summer, has one year remaining on his contract and wants to play in 2010-2011.

Vaclav Prospal is jumping around the league a bit, currently a member of the New York Rangers. Interestingly, for me anyway, Prospal has only played one season, a full 82 games out of his 949 total, in the Western Conference as a member of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Janne Niinimaa is still playing, but not in the NHL and hasn‘t suited up for a National Hockey League team since a half-season with Montreal in 05-06. Colin Forbes also left the NHL and has been playing for Adler Mannheim of the DEL since his final 9 NHL games with the Capitals in 2005-2006.

That’s it. The 1997 Flyers have a whopping two players still active in the NHL. Yes, more moves are made when a team is not winning championships. A dominant Philadelphia team would have probably kept some guys around. Thing is, they were supposed to be dominant. They finished one point behind New Jersey in the Atlantic Division that year and were picked as Cup favorites a few years before and after 1997.

I bring this up to talk about the Red Wings, and how we might forget how close-knit and loyal this organization can be. Not only is there eight active players from the 1997 roster (including Mathieu Dandenault, who was released by the AHL‘s Wolf Pack), but four of those still see time for the Red Wings. They may lose Kirk Maltby as a free agent, since they have young guys ready to step up, kill penalties and score three goals a season. Nicklas Lidstrom will play year-to-year until he is ready to retire. Chris Osgood should at least get a chance to surpass 400 wins in the final year of a contract extension signed in 2008. Kris Draper is signed pretty cheaply through next season and will likely get fourth line minutes through 70-80 games. Finally, Tomas Holmstrom just signed a two-year deal and will probably be yet another player to stay in Detroit his entire career. How many of those have there been? How many league-wide? have stayed with one team for more than a decade?

Of all the players who took the ice on that June evening in 1997, nine played in the NHL last season and five were members of the Detroit Red Wings - still. No re-acquisitions like Todd Bertuzzi or even Andy Delmore or Jason Williams. Those five players have not put on another NHL jersey in 12 seasons.

I know what you're thinking. Chris Osgood! That never really happened. Even if it did, we just allowed him to play somewhere else while we let Dominik Hasek win a Cup. We're sure there was something in his contract. Let’s continue.

Slava Kozlov and Aaron Ward are the other leftovers from ‘97. Kozlov is a free agent and may head to Europe after demanding and not getting a trade from Atlanta. Aaron Ward played 77 games last year, 60 for the Hurricanes and was traded at the deadline to the Ducks. He currently has no contract.

Time will ultimately disassemble that Red Wings roster that brought Detroit their first championship in 42 years and helped bring us three more, including what is still the only repeat performance since 1992. As we watch Steve Yzerman head up the Tampa Bay Lightning, wonder if Kirk Maltby will come back from surgery and be given a spot, as we wait to see if Jimmy Howard will be the number one goalie -- relegating Ozzie to the bench or another NHL team (for the first time ever, we think) -- as we wonder how many seasons Lidstrom and Draper have left, we should appreciate this team.

The Flyers didn’t end up winning this year. We’ll see how many of these 2010 Flyers are around in a few years. The Blackhawks found the right chemistry with new guys - the longest-tenured Hawks are from the 05-06 season. Don't give these players too much credit for finally winning something that eluded the city for so long. Or if you do give them credit, don't pretend like they suffered for as long as the fans did. Guys like Jonathan Toews, Sidney Crosby and Eric Staal got to win young, and didn't have to endure what a guy like Yzerman did. The Wings had theirs too - Pavel Datsyuk won in his first season. But that was Detroit's third championship in six years. Eight seasons have now passed. Guess where Datsyuk is still playing.

It’s tough watching a rival team hoist the Stanley Cup after such a roller-coaster ride in Detroit. The team that might miss the playoffs for the first time in 19 seasons became a legitimate pick to once again represent the Western Conference, and many of us cursed and blogged and tweeted naughty things when that expansion team from California knocked us out.

It’s truly unusual for a team to boast any one player remaining for more than a handful of years, even with today’s increasing decade-long contracts. But spoiler alert - we’re spoiled. Players we grew up watching also grew up here in Hockeytown - Detroit’s nickname that‘s been around the same length of time as these guys. Including 1996-1997, we’ve seen 626 regular season Red Wings victories, 115 playoff wins, and four Stanley Cups.

We know Lidstrom and Draper will return and Osgood is likely to remain with the team to finish out his contract. Kirk Maltby wants to come back. How about we re-acquire Stanley?