Canto LXXX

Hello world. I know it's been a long time, and it's not like I have all that much interesting things to say, but here it is. I'm turning Canadian. I've always been a left-leaning pacifist, and I want Universal Health Care. But now it's gone to extremes. I went to my first NHL game and I really liked it! I had always heard that hockey is a sport that is much better live than on TV. And let be another person to say that is certainly true. So the day before, a friend emails and says 'Hey, I got some free tickets to the Bruins tomorrow - you want to go?' Sure! And thus the transformation began. We went for some beers, had great seats at the game (up on the Promenade), then went for some more beers. I don't think you can have too many beers during hockey night. Anyway, the game was sweet. The Bruins won 6-0 over the Anaheim Ducks, and there were 3 fights to go along with (well, more like 2 1/2, but whatever). After the game, I went down to the ice and pounded a little bit on the glass, but it was just the ice cleaning crew left, and they looked at me like I was nuts. Anyway, now I'm going to have to watch the Bruins during the playoffs.

You may think - big deal, lots of Americans like hockey, and it's not like we're going to give up Minnesota to Canada for that. True. But this Saturday was the main event. I went Curling with a large group of us grad physicists from MIT. And it was awesome! I'm not sure I can overstate how awesome it was. First off, curling is a drinking game. There was a bar at the Curling Club called 'The Final End', which is basically just the 19th hole, only in curling terms. Anyway, besides the 4 sheets for curling, the bar, and a lovely fireplace. Upstairs there's a pool table, foosball table and more TVs. It was great. Here's some pictures to give you some idea.

Everyone getting some curling lessons. The club members were really nice and helped out a whole bunch.

The was the winning stone for our team in the first end. We went up 1-0. The second end didn't go so well, and we were down 2-1 going into the third and final end.

Here's me delivering 'the Hammer', i.e. the final stone of the end. This would be our last stone of the evening. Down 2-1, we had 1 scoring, and just needed one more to push us over the top. I delivered a beautiful stone. It was moving at just the right pace, and curling beautifully. Dave & Mike (the guys with the brooms) did some awesome sweeping. And then, just as the stone was entering the house (that's the bull's eye at either end), Mike slipped rather comically and knocked out the stone. That's called 'burning a stone'. It was tragically funny. Great spill, and it cost us the match.
Anyway, it was a blast, and there's talk of joining up and making the trek out to Wayland every so often to curl a few ends and drink a few beers. Just like a real Canadian would.