In Memoriam: 2002-2003 Ottawa Senators (14th of 15)

Playoff hockey, at least by the time things have progressed to the Conference Finals, generally conjures up images of close-fought games between teams of fairly comparable talent. Such was the case in the series between the Ottawa Senators and the New Jersey Devils. This was a good, seven game series.

It's hard to say from the games that the victorious Devils are clearly the better team. They did, however win four of the seven games, and in doing so, earn the right to advance to battle for the Stanley Cup.

If there was a sentimental favourite in the pack this season, it had to be the Senators. Any team which can pass through bankruptcy during the course of a season, complete with missing payroll once, yet still remain competitive has done something remarkable. To do so without missing a stride en route to compiling the best regular season record is on the level of miraculous.

When it came right down to it, this was a duel between goaltenders, and the more experienced Martin Brodeur and his team prevailed over Patrick Lalime and the Sens. If the Senators can manage to repeat what they accomplished this season next year, and Lalime returns to his 2001-2002 playoff form, the cries of "Wait until next year" from the Corel Centre will be a threat, rather than a hopeful refrain.

Happy Birthday to Alexander

A little boy only turns five once. But occasionally he gets presents for his birthday on three separate days. First last Sunday, when wilson_lizard and S. came up for his (postponed) party. They brought alexander a really neat blue cloak. :-) :-)

Then today- his actual birthday. Grandma and Grandpa came down from Mt. Vernon with an earth-mover type toy, a horseshoes set, and a sandbox (complete with cover, so it won't become litterbox for our- and the rest of the neighbourhood's- cats. He also got a LeapPad Quantum from us (to replace his old LeapPad, which wasn't working anymore), and a wonderful book of crafty outdoorsy things for boys from gwynn_aaron and ithilien.

We also had a trip to make to the Eastside to pick up a kids' play workbench and tools which damashita found on Craig's List for $5- at which price it was a must present. And while we were out, we stopped at Build-A-Bear Workshop and he made his own special birthday bear.

This Sunday is his rescheduled birthday party- a handful of his friends and their parents will be coming down from the valley, and wilson_lizard and S. will be coming up from west of Olympia- and we'll have the grand fête.

And, as he so happily noted two weeks ago today, nicholas is the first guest at his party. He's been such a sweet big brother it's unbelievable.

Oh, yes- and a slightly belated Happy Birthday to hottoastermama's son Jonah- we meant to call last night, but realized that by the time we got around to doing so that it was far too late to call a little person three time zones later than us.

(no subject)

Well, people keep asking alexander if he's ready to go to school now, especially since he's turned 5 (i think a good double-handful asked him today).

Now, if you ask the boy where he wants to go to school, he'll tell you- "College."

It'll probably be his first experience with a conventional classroom when it happens, too. He'd be an absolute nightmare to turn loose on a poor elementary teacher who was tied into a lock-step curriculum. Quite simply, alexander can't be dragged into learning something he's not interested in learning. On the other hand, once something catches his interest, he's going to absorb as much information about it as he possibly can in a short period. Things he's expressed an interest in recently: geology and vulcanology; recycling and the environment (the whole hippy/Green thing. Can't imagine where he gets it!); today, it was geography and flags, probably spurred by one of the pages in his new LeapPad's demo cartridge. How many five-year-olds do you know who can pick out Bosnia and Herzegovina on a map? Or for that matter, point out the differences between the flags of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland? Mind you, he still can't be bothered to try to colour within the lines, and has limited interest in learning to write (although he is interested in spelling). In a conventional classroom, he'd be a nightmare- either he'd be bored silly and getting into trouble, or he'd just turn off completely. Thankfully, he'll get home Un-schooling, where we can work in the important elements of basic education within the framework of what interests him. I think he'll be better off for it. Who knows- he may beat both of his parents and start taking isolated college classes before his age reaches double-digits.