There's No Here

I apologize for the lack of bloggage this week. I've been spending a lot of time watching our brand new 37-inch flatscreen TV. The thing's frickin' huge, at least compared to what we've had previously. We were thinking about getting a bigger one, but this was the biggest we could fit in our entertainment center. And it's fine. It's an HDTV, but we haven't ordered a new DirecTV HD box yet, so we're not getting the hi-def picture. Can't wait to watch football and hockey on it in the fall.

We're finally getting some summer-like weather, although it's of the volatile Florida variety, with thunderstorms expected to rumble through every day for the next week or so. It rained all week until yesterday, so I was stuck doing a couple of treadmill runs. Getting out for a 15-miler tomorrow morning, hopefully before it gets too humid.

Hannah lost her second tooth this week, with a little help from her sister. She had a tooth that was already loose and was wrestling with Lily when a stray knee caught her in the mouth and actually knocked the tooth right out. There was a little blood but Hannah was very calm about it, no doubt imagining the Tooth Fairy winfall.

I've got some interesting developments with the podcast in the works, but I can't say anything just yet. Hopefully more details early next week. In the meantime, I'm hoping to do some recording of new material on Sunday, so we'll see if that happens.

Sweating bullets:

• Quite the week for celebrity deaths, huh? I kind of feel bad for Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett in that they were totally overshadowed by Michael Jackson's bizarre death yesterday. I'm not going to get into it, because really, haven't you heard enough already? And besides, there's still the funeral, the autopsy, the tribute albums, the unreleased recordings, etc. Jacko will live on.
• The NHL draft took place tonight, with the Islanders sticking with pre-draft favorite John Tavares as the top pick. The Leafs were hoping to trade up to get him, but were unable to, so they took Nazem Kadri, a Canadian of Lebanese descent, with the no. 7 pick. There was much talk earlier in the day of possible trades, but the only one that happened was Anaheim trading Chris Pronger to the Flyers for a combination of players and picks; I still want to see how they fit his huge salary under the cap. But however they do it, they're going to be tough to face next season. A rumored trade that would have sent the Leafs' Tomas Kaberle to Boston for Phil Kessel never happened; frankly, it seemed unlikely to me. But it does appear that the Leafs are shopping Kaberle, so that should be interesting. I'll be sad to see him go; he's an excellent d-man making a reasonable salary by NHL standards. And the fun continues next week, as free agent season starts on July 1.