Marker in the Sand

Sun, glorious sun! After what seemed like an endless torrential downpour, the last two days have been pretty nice. Of course, it's supposed to rain again tomorrow, so I guess we'll have to enjoy it while we can. Things got pretty messy around here; we had minor problems, but plenty of people sustained serious damage to their property.

Happy birthday to Deb! I won't say how old she is, but she likes to take solace in the fact that she'll always be younger than me. Mother's Day and her birthday in the same week. The double whammy.

Ten days until my marathon. I'm feeling good, although I'm trying to cut down on all the junk I've been eating lately. I attribute it to stress and laziness, but my diet has not been good the last few months: lots of ice cream, candy, soda, and assorted other crap. Hopefully, it won't slow me down too much on race day.

You're with me, leather:

• The NHL playoffs are down to the final four teams, and it's proof positive that the salary cap is working. All four teams are in small markets and have had financial struggles in recent years. The outcomes so far have been impossible to predict: Carolina vs. Buffalo in the East, Edmonton vs. Anaheim in the West. Carolina had one of the best records in the league, so they're not too much of a shocker, although nobody expected them to have this great of a season. Edmonton and Buffalo are bigger surprises, both knocking off tough opponents; the eighth-seeded Oilers upset Detroit and San Jose while the Sabres dispatched the Flyers and Senators. The teams all reflect the new NHL: skilled, fast, and hard-working. I'm looking forward to the third round. I'm thinking Anaheim and Carolina will win, but what do I know? I've been dead wrong so far.
• Macca, wha hoppen? Paul McCartney may be a musical genius, but he was pretty dumb not to make his wife Heather sign a pre-nup. Now they're on the outs, and she stands to take a sizable chunk of his $1.5 billion fortune with her.
• Some definite anger issues for the baseball-playing Young brothers. First minor league prospect Delmon throws his bat at an umpire and hits the dude in the chest, and now Tigers DH Dmitri is charged with domestic abuse. Don't cut those guys off in traffic.