Meh, We Ain't Skeered

So the Bruins won last night, 4-0. No big deal. No one thought it was going to be easy any ways. This just allows us to use the excuses the Bruins' fans have been saying for the past week and change.

"We didn't play our best game. We lost the game, it's not that they won it."

This however, isn't that far off. The Bruins did play better, but only slightly. They didn't show any increase in playing level until they (Corvo) scored their first goal.

The Canes on the other hand, didn't seem all that interested in playing. They were not quick to get to the puck. They didn't step in front of shots to block them. One can only assume that they simply wanted to clinch the series at home in front of their own crowd. They never seem to do that against their 1st round opponent, but for this second round, it must be what their planning. I mean, it's not like the Bruins could beat us unless we wanted them to.

Let's just hope Scott Walker gets some leniency from the league.

Playing Catchup

That's what the Bruins said.

Wow, so the Canes find themselves up 2-1 in their series with the "juggernaut" Boston Bruins. They have done so simply by playing their game and keeping their feet on the gas. They've even kept Boston from throwing them off of their game by matching Boston's physicality.

One would have expected Boston to have come out with guns blazing last night, especially after being shutout at home 3 days earlier. This was not really the case as the Canes were able to effectively cut out the neutral zone.

I'm really looking forward to Friday's game 4. This will be the true test of this series. Will Boston continue to fold or will they roar back and make this a best of 3 series. Can the Cardiac Canes keep up the speed with which they're using to best Boston? Around 7:30 on Friday, we'll begin to find out.


Picture time! I've got plenty from the trips, plus some really cool eye candy. First off, the Desert pics.

The water in Lake Mead is looking pretty low at the Hoover Dam.

Constructing the new suspension bridge over the canyon at the Hoover Dam.

A little birdy decided to check us out eating breakfast.

The Vegas Strip shortly after takeoff.

The Grand Canyon, from 20,000 feet.

Now, for some Beach Pics.

Now, for the really cool pictures:

I've discovered HDR, or High Dynamic Range Photography and Tone mapping. It produces some really cool pictures. It basically takes several pictures of the same scene that are of different exposure levels and blends them together. The above picture is what happens when you merge and tone map the following three pictures together.

Here's a few more HDR images from the desert and the beach.

Whirlwind Trips

So I had to make and emergency stop in Las Vegas this week. Yeah, what? Well, my SWMBO has family out there, so we had some stuff that needed to be taken care of.

Hockey update: The Canes win Games 7 of the Devils' series in Hollywood fashion. I missed the game completely (Traveste'!) but to score twice in the last 1:30 is pretty damn awesome. We're now on to playing the top team in the NHL, the Boston Bruins.

This was the matchup that I dreaded. I wanted New York to beat Washington, just so we didn't have to face the Bruins. I don't get warm fuzzies about this series. We lost last night by a margin of 4-1. We didn't look flat like we did against New Jersey in the first game when we lost 4-1, it's just that the 4 mistakes we made in the game, Boston capitalized on. You have to play perfect to beat Boston right now. They're that good.

Currently, I'm down at the beach trying to catch up on sleep and get a little bit of relaxing done after being out in the desert for all of the past week. Expect plenty of pictures of sunsets and waves coming later.

Brew update! I only spent about 8 hours at home in between trips but here's what's happened since my last post. The IPA started fermenting, and I believe I was able to keep it at a fairly good temperature. That being said, I couldn't do much while out in Vegas. However, for some reason, 4 days after it started fermenting, when I came back to it, it had stopped showing activity in the airlock; but had a massive krausen on it. What? So maybe there's a leak in my fermenter that's allowing the CO2 to escape somewhere other than the airlock. Plus, the krausen should have fallen by now. Not that I'm on any needed schedule for it right now. It's going to be in the primary for a while, but it still seemed strange that there was a big krausen on there 6 days after pitching. It can happen, I just figured it'd be with a heavier brew.

Welp, on to more relaxin down here at the beach!

Change in Plans

So I decided not to brew Jennifer's Cherry Wheat yesterday. Instead I went ahead and brewed up my American IPA. MMMM, hoppy goodness!

Here's the rundown on the ingredients:

• 8 oz. of Crystal 120L


• 4 oz. of Crystal 40L


• 2 oz. Flaked Wheat


• 5.5 lbs of Extra Pale DME


• 3.3 lbs of Pale LME


• 1 oz of Summit at 60 min


• .5 oz. of Cascade at 20 min


• .5 oz. of Centennial at 20 min


• .25 oz. of Centennial at 10 min
  
• .5 oz of Cascade at 7 min


• .25 oz of Centennial at 5 min


• The zest of 2 oranges at 5 min
  
• 1 package of Wyeast American Ale II

What a smell from those oranges when I was zesting them. It was absolutely awesome. One glitch in the process. It's been about 24 hours now, and I hadn't seen any activity in the primary fermenter. It's not that big of a deal yet, but if it goes a couple more days, I'm gonna have to run out and get some more yeast. Here's the process of anything I could think of that may have caused this.

1. I smacked the "Smack Pack" the day before brewing, but for some reason decided to put it back in the fridge after reading the pack and seeing to do that 3 hours before using. I let the pack re-warm up for at least 3 hours before pitching.
   
2. I just used my new wort chiller for the first time. It's awesome! It cooled my entire brew in about 10 minutes. Once I got the temp to around 90 degrees F, I dumped the wort into the fermenter and topped off with cool water. I assumed there was no way the temp of the brew could possibly still be above 90 after topping off, so I pitched the yeast pack.
   
3. Wanting to maintain proper fermentation temperatures, I placed the fermenter in a chest cooler and filled the cooler with some frozen water bottles and cool water. When I checked the temperature of the water in the cooler, it was slightly less than 60 degrees. Not too cold for the yeast, but maybe a bit cool?

So all three of those things may have contributed to a slow start, or maybe even a non-start. I don't know yet. I promise not to worry too much.

For some eye candy, here's a shot of my Irish Red while out camping.

Whoah

I'm not sure whether I should be concerned we blew a 3-0 lead or amazed that the Canes won the game with .2 seconds left in Regulation. Either way, it was a game for the ages.

Hockey and Brew

For now, I'm way too excited and nervous to post much on the Canes as they play against New Jersey in the first round. One minute they look great, the next they give the game away. It's too stressing to write about.

Brewing beer however, is not! You can't possibly stress too much about a process that takes weeks, can you? Well yeah, you definitely can, but thankfully I'm not right now. As of yesterday, The Schitz! Barleywine has reached it's Final Gravity of 1.022, and will just sit in the Primary for another week to clean up a bit. It may even drop another thousandth of a point of two. Then it's off to the Secondary for about 6 weeks. That all means that I will have an empty primary in a week. Well now I can't have that!

Jennifer's Cherry Wheat to the rescue! My wife (SWMBO) loves Sam Adams' Cherry Wheat, so I'm going to try to the best of my ability, plus some creative leeway, to clone it for her. This would normally fall under the American Wheat style of beer, but since it will have cherries in it, it's technically a fruit beer.

The recipe is as follows.

• 3.3 lbs of Wheat Liquid Malt Extract
• 3.3 lbs of Extra Pale Dry Malt Extract
• 3 lbs of pureed cherries
• .5 oz. Centennial hops at 60 min
• .25 oz Centennial at 20 min
• .25 oz. Centennial at 7 min
• 1 package of Wyeast 1010 American Wheat Yeast.

Calculating the Starting Gravity, as well as the final Alcohol content will be hard because of the added sugars from the cherries. The color would normally be very light, but with the addition of cherries, it may add some red, along with some darkening to the beer. Plus, as an added bonus, SWMBO will be out of town this weekend, so she won't even have to smell the brew as it's cooked. Yay for her!

Playoff Picks

The 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs start tonight, and thankfully, after 2 years of not participating, the Canes are back in the post-season. With my super hockey knowledge and foresight I will give you who I believe will win the playoffs. Not just the 1st round, but the whole thing! Yeah, I'm good like that.

Round 1, Fight!

Eastern Conference

1 Bruins vs. 8 Habs: The Habs are beat up and haven't played consistent hockey in months. There's not way that they're going to be able to pull off this upset. The bruins pull through in 5.

2 Washington vs. 7 New York Rangers: These are two teams that look very different. Washington is a balls to the wall offensive team, with very little shut-down defense and a shaky goaltender. New York is a more balanced team with less offensive power and a better goaltender. The Caps' hopes are pinned on if they can score more than Theodore can let in. If nothing else, it'll be interesting to watch Avery try to pester AO. Caps win in 6.

3 Devils vs. 6 Canes: One of the more even matchups in the playoffs. This one could really go either way. The Canes are riding a hot streak that has lasted for more than a month, while the Devils have played .500 hockey for most of the past month. Brodeur hasn't looked Brodeur-esque lately, while Cam Ward has. The Canes have had Jersey's number this season taking the season series 3-1. However, the playoffs are always a different story. This one goes to 7 with the Canes coming out on top.

4 Pens vs. 5 Flyers: Another overly even matchup. This is going to be another series going to 7 games. This one however will be about who makes the most mistakes and who gets beat up the most. This series will wear down on both teams, but I see Philly coming out on top. Their defense is going to find a way to shut down Crosby, Malkin, and Staal. Flyers in 7.

Western Conference

1 San Jose vs. 8 Anaheim: Anaheim made a late season push to get into the playoffs, but they're not the team that won the cup a couple years ago. San Jose has been on a mission this year and can't be denied getting past the first round. Sharks in 5.

2 Detroit vs. 7 Columbus: I would love to see Columbus take this series, and I believe that they could. However, Detroit always finds that extra gear in the playoffs. They always seem to be able to stay focused and motivated. Even if they play to an empty arena, Detroit wins this one in 6.

3 Vancouver vs. 6 St. Louis: Another Cinderella team in St. Louis. The Blues haven't been in the playoffs in what seems like forever, especially after having a streak of twenty some years straight in the playoffs. Unfortunately for the Blues, this is the year that Bobby Lu asserts himself in the playoffs. The Nucks win in 6.

4 Chicago vs. 5 Calgary: The even matchup out west that isn't. Calgary won't have enough firepower to keep up with Chicago in this series, and Kipper won't be able to keep them in the game. Hawks in 5.


Round 2, Fight!

Eastern Conference

1 Bruins vs. 6 Canes: Ouch. I hate pitting my Canes against the Bruins like this. They were kicked around all season by the Bruins. That being said, they played all their games against the Bruins before they turned it on in late February. They will make a series out of it. As much as it pains me to say it though, I don't think they can get past the Bruins. They needed someone else to do it, and I don't see how the Habs or the Rangers could have done it (assuming the Rangers beat the Caps). Bruins in 6, they're just too big.

2 Caps vs. 5 Philly: The Caps will face a real test in the second round. The NHL won't get what it wanted in a Crosby vs. Ovechkin series. In this round I see Biron somehow getting hot, and Theodore will choke. Varlamov will come in for Washington, but it won't be enough, and the Flyers will take this one in 6.

Western Conference

1 San Jose vs. 4 Chicago: Ah, the Sharks and the 2nd round of the playoffs, mortal enemies. This series will be a battle to see who can score more. Goaltending won't be showcased in this series. Neither will perform poorly, but look for at least 5 goals to be scored in most of the games. In this series, I see San Jose actually making it past the second round in 6 games.

2 Detroit vs. 3 Vancouver: And here is where Detroit's goaltender's go downhill. Neither Osgood, nor Conklin will be able to do much. Not that Vancouver will throw an onslaught of offensive power at them, they will just falter. Vancouver in 5.

Round 3, Fight!

Eastern Conference

1 Boston vs. 5 Philly: Ok, the third round is so far away, and so much can happen between now and then, that it's a bit too hard to write a true review for them. Tim Thomas will show that he's not quite superman, and Boston will get thrown around a bit more in this series. The Flyer's forwards will find a way to forecheck against the Boston D, and that will make the difference. Philly in 7.

Western Conference

1 San Jose vs. 3 Vancouver: This will be the battle of goaltenders. Both Nabokov and Luongo will be great for their clubs. We'll see a couple shutouts and low scoring games. Both goalies will exit this round with Save Percentage's above .930, but only Luongo will come away smiling. Canucks in 6.


Stanley Cup Finals!

3 Vancouver vs. 5 Philly: Ah, time for all of Canada to jump on the "Canada's Team!" Bandwagon. In this matchup, I see Philly doing everything they can to get past Luongo, but not having the success that they had against Boston. However, their defense will come up big against the Sedins and Sundin, as Biron cools off a bit.
That being said, Luongo will be clutch in this series, where 3 games will go into overtime. This series goes to 6 games and the Canucks bring the Cup to Canada, Sundin makes half of Toronto hate him even more (and all of Montreal) and gets his ring, and Canada can keep saying how hockey is their sport and revel in the fact that it only took 16 years for it to happen.


There you go. Put your money on it. But no more than 10 bucks. I don't have a crystal ball or anything.

Come June we'll find out how (un?)awesome I am when predicting hockey.