Counting Summer Down and Some Playoff Nicknacks

Call it lazy, call it busy, call it whatever you like, I had other stuff on the go this weekend so it's been awhile. Was over to the Island for a visit this past weekend. Had a good time, got to see some friends I haven't seen in a while, and we all played a little catch up and what not. Had the brief opportunity to travel back in time, though not literally (despite the presence of one Marty McFly, ironically enough), to the place where we all once came together. Funny how that's what life becomes, an unending series of events drawn out over one continuous time-line, and though we may stop to briefly revisit an old event, memory or friend, we can only go back for the briefest of times before life pulls us back to the current time, reality. I know - Deep. Reality.

The real world has me teaching some more physical education and that's quite alright with me too. The school year is almost up and you can feel the buzz around the halls, kids prepping up on their Alice Cooper, not sure they know the artist but they know "School's out for Summer". I can hear the the shop class students down the hall, busy priming up their paddles with the sweet squeals of frosh ringing in their ears. They've got their countdowns all worked out and for the high schools that means there is only 11 days left of class before exams bring the year to a close. As for me, I've got my own countdown, an EI sponsored summer countdown, but typical me, I've been slacking and it's been awhile since I dropped a little summer countdown knowledge. That drought (ironic because of all the rain?) ends today with an updated countdown, chronicling the entire countdown to date - including the near 15 near new entries that it has taken to get back up to date. So here goes the list to this point, old and new. Enjoy!

Complete Summer Countdown List - To Date:
70. Golf - 103. First time out. Needs improvement.
69. Skinny Dipping - Least fun you can have with your clothes off? Or is that the 'r' word?
68. Watermelon - I prefer mine seedless.
67. Vacation - Preferably paid.
66. Road Trips -"Road trippin' with my two favourite allies..." (RCHP)
65. A Good Toss - Baseball, football, tennis Ball, no matter.
64. Nice Cars - Does NOT include the loud, muffler-less, souped up Civics that cruise Main St. on the regular.
63. Camp Fires - White Rabbits. White Rabbits. White Rabbits.
62. Hot Dogs Over the Open Flame - No bun required.
61. Smores - Whoever first stumbled upon this creation needs a statue. Kareem can wait.
60. Ice Cream - Does the bubble gum flavour still exist. Hands down, worst gum out there, but it's like a scavenger hunt and an ice cream cone - at the same time.
59. Slush Free Sidewalks - What's slush? Exactly.
58. Green - F! Time to mow the ever growing jungle of a lawn. Off the list!
57. Sports - Sounds like an ambiguous number filler to me!
56. Bridge Jumping - Am I yelling?
55. Cliff Jumping - Or am I screaming - like a girl?
54. Longer Days - "Holy Shit, it's already 9?! Fuck! I thought it was like 7!"
53. Sublime's 'Summertime' - "...and the livin's easy."
52. Cottaging - Now that's relaxing!
51. Cold Beer - Don't mind if I do. 
50. Reunions - For friends whose conversations don't begin with "So where are you at these days?".
49. Frisbee - The 'sport' of summer.
48. Bar-B-Q's - Everything just tastes a little better.
47. Summer Concerts - You can have U2, I'll take Arcade Fire.
46. Shorts and Tees - Strictly casual.
45. Summer Kicks - "Back on the scene, crispy and clean."
44. Patios - The Pumphouse have their patio up in what is essentially my backyard, I will be treating it as such.
*** NEW ***
43. Flip Flops - Let em' breathe. Most comfortable footwear since the days of Moses.
42. Windows Down - Cause everyone else secretly wants to hear your music too!
41. Boys of Summer - "Out on the road today i saw a dead head sticker on a Cadillac/ a voice inside my head said don't look back, you can never look back" (DH)
40. Air Conditioning -We all know the incredible feeling of escaping a scorcher. "Aaaahhh."
39. Sundresses - Personally speaking, it's the delicate quality to them that I like.
38. Water Balloons - "Water fight!!"
37. BIF Parties - Sanction! "A spill is not a spill..."
36. Pool Hopping - "Honey, I think someone's in our pool."v
35. Lobster - Great creature. Succulent dish.
34. Washer Toss - The 'pipe' jokes never get old.
33. Cold Beer - Of course! I'd love another.
32. Tenting - Nothing like playing a 6 person game of 'steamroller' in a 3 person tent.
31. Slip and Slide - See Ron.

30. Trampolines -  Surely I could go to the 'youtube well' for some kind of trampoline disaster. I won't.
29. Convertibles - "In the Ferrari or Jaguar, switchin four lanes/ With the top down screamin out, "money ain't a thang." (Jigga)
28. Animals' summer dispositions -  I'm no expert, but it would seem to me that animals would enjoy the summer. Seems natural. Am I right.
27. Bikinis - It wasn't going to not make the list.
26. Super Soaker 3000 - A remarkably safer version of the drive-by-shooting. Pump action.
25. Keg Parties - Nothing gets me going like a chick banging out a 20 second keg stand. Real talk.

I vow to eat every banana on the hand I buy next time. The reign of the brown banana is over. This has gone on for far too long.

Lebron the Villain

The NBA playoffs continue to roll on and as I write this I'm watching game 5 of the Bulls Heat and obviously I'm still whispering "go Bulls!", but I have to admit the Heat have been the better team so far. I hoped/wanted/longed for the Bulls to win this series, but my honest feeling was after the series with the Celts, the Heat were rolling.The Heat have become much more adept at closing out games than they were during the regular season. They aren't leaving it to the last shot but they've consistently dominated the final 2 minutes of games - as well as overtimes in the past 2 series'. James may have elevated his game to a new level in this series, just as far as dominating any part of the game he chooses - a leading 4th quarter scorer, a dynamic playmaker, a lock down drose on and island defender. Fingerprints everywhere. From what I can see Derrick Rose has met a wall in the Heat's perimeter defence and has fallen into Miami's scheme, which has him shooting a lot of perimeter jump shots. So far his field goal percentage and the Chicago offence has sputtered at times, as a result, the Bulls are looking plenty vulnerable right about now. Despite that, the games truly have been neck and neck throughout the series and I hope to see a couple more. To this point the Bulls, and namely Rose, have struggled in the 4th quarter, a trend the Bulls need to break if they don't want to look back upon 2011 as nothing more than, a learning experience. I have hope for tonight but winning game 6 in Miami will be a tall task. Alas, one game at a time. Go Bulls.





I started out trying to make some kind of Will Smith/ Wild Wild West/Sarcastically Tame joke about the Western Conference Final and now you can try. Hope you make out better than I did. Dirk is having one of the finest runs of his career proving his legacy as one of this generation's most uniquely special scorer's. The man can flat out score and he does it all so effortlessly and efficiently. An interesting juxtaposition from the styles of Lebron, Wade and DRose - fellow remaining megastars. People are being a tad harsh with Durant and Westbrook regarding the OKC "implosion" in the West Final. IMO, yeah, Durant could have made a few more shots and, yeah, Westbrook could have included his teammates more but I think the reality is that Dallas was the better team in this series. Granted, I had heard the "fat lady" doing her sound check with about 5 minutes left in Game 4 and with OKC up 15 at home I headed to bed, meaning I didn't see there epic meltdown firsthand, but from the highlights it looked like more of a storming back by a Dirk led Mavs squad.  Still, KD, 15? That said, Dallas is deep, talented and was at the top of bracket all season long. They have vets who have been there before in the Dallas 06 squad, and Kidd with the Nets in the early 00's. More telling is that they seem to have found some kind of playoff mojo. They're Dirk and his mighty men. A band of assassins who can all fill it up from the outside at anytime - making it very difficult to double down on Dirk. If there is such thing as the 'spirit' of a team, they seem to have it. Maybe the question will be - can the Mav's 'spirit' match the Heat's 'swagger'? Dammit. Go Bulls.


New Top 20 Tomorrow - As in the next time I write. Probably Saturday. Maybe Never. Tomorrow.
P.