Quick shifts

It's amazing how quick an intermission will fly by, isn't it? You barely have enough time to tend to nature, grab a snack and cobble together an intelligent posting.

Anyways, here it goes:

~ You might want to head out to your local Toys 'R' Us real soon. McFarlane's Series 13 has hit the shelves, at least down here in Florida. Though I picked up Washington's Alexander Ovechkin (shown above) and San Jose's Joey Thornton (an updated repaint of his second figure) you'll also find Ottawa's Dany Heatley, New York Henrik Lundqvist, Toronto's Bryan McCabe and Calgary's Alex Tanguay (whose body figure is the same at the Series 9 Brian Leetch). I've seen pricey variants of these, including the Sedin twins, at other online outlets, but I'm happy with what I have.

~ Is it just me, but don't you wish NHL Center Ice would include every pre- and post-game show, rather than just flashing "Good Night" and turning on that insipid music? And what about replays at other times of the day? Seeing that my job makes me miss most of the East Coast games, I'm glad there are Western Conference teams to follow.

~ As I was paying for our steakhouse dinners earlier tonight, I couldn't help but think for the amount of the tab that, provided we were back in New England, the three of us could have eaten at the Applebee's in Biddeford, headed on up to Portland to watch the Lowell Devils beat the Pirates, 5-3, and add to our autograph collection. That's life, eh?