Retrofit

Ah, it's warming up already. The temperature got up to 50 today, which is a welcome change from the arctic depths it had reached earlier in the week. Yesterday went from brutally cold (5) in the a.m. to about 25-30 by lunch. I went for what hopefully will be my last outdoor skate at Redd's Pond. It was good, although there were already some slushy spots from where the sun was shining.

Weigh-in: I'm at 163, 5 pounds down since I stopped eating desserts and drinking beer and soda three weeks ago. I've had a few pieces of Lily's birthday cake the last few days, but they've been small pieces.

Here come the rome plows:

• Congrats to podcaster supreme Tim Coyne for making the cover of Podcast User Magazine, a UK-based Internet-only pub. Tim, an actor and writer who produces The Hollywood Podcast, is a good buddy of my bro-in-law Matt. His show is very entertaining and well worth a listen.
• Well, the delay in the Van Halen tour makes a lot more sense now that Eddie VH has checked into rehab again. Here's hoping he gets his act together. Looks like VH's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame won't be any fun, with neither the Van Halen brothers nor David Lee Roth planning to attend. Instead, the crappy Velvet Revolver will accept the award and play a set of VH tunes. That's going to suck-diddly-uck.
• Sad to hear of the death of Brad Delp, the former singer of the band Boston. I was never a huge fan of the band, but growing up in New England, you couldn't help but hear every Boston song a zillion times on rock radio. He was from Danvers, which is the next town over from where I live now, and he died at home in Atkinson, NH, which is two towns over from where I lived in high school. Delp was 55.
• Marvel's getting a lot of press this week after killing off Captain America, one of their longtime superhero mainstays. I used to read Captain America religiously for years, but I'm not getting all worked up about this. This happens every so often; a character is killed and then it turns out that it was his clone or an imposter or something like that. Or like when Iron Man became a drunk and quit, and his best friend took over for a while. In this case, I'm thinking someone else will take over for Cap, at least temporarily until they figure out a way to bring Steve Rogers (his alter ego) back. Some good analysis/reflection on Cap here.
• Three years to the day after Todd Bertuzzi's cowardly attack on Steve Moore that ended Moore's career, another ugly hockey incident took place Thursday. Islanders goon Chris Simon, blind with rage over a hit he took from Ranger Ryan Hollweg, turned and delivered a baseball swing to Hollweg's chin. Hollweg was cut but okay, but Simon was suspended indefinitely by the league pending a hearing. Check out the video here. Just read a story that reported he was suspended for the rest of the season plus seven games in the playoffs. Hopefully, that's true. There's no place for BS like that in hockey. Drop the gloves and fight the guy, but you don't just drive your stick into his chin.
• More on the Brady baby parade: The Boston Herald reported yesterday that the rumors are false that Gisele Bundchen is preggo with Brady's baby, citing interviews with Gisele's family. Hope they're right.