Kick In the Door

          It seemed like today was going to be one of those days; the very first thing I managed to do was to submerge an earbud in my coffee mug. Magically, it survived, and everything worked out after that. Walter is on a two-week vacation in Ireland, buying me a little more time during the day, and my duties seemed to fly by. After work, Stephanie and I shared dinner at El Pelon and bumped into Andrew as well. We went back to the apartment, where the boys let the hockey fervor take over. Twelve games were going on, partly due to split-squad events, and we chose to stream the Wild/Jets and Blues/Stars matchups. I was going to write about the games, but since so much was happening, I'll just group the outcomes into categories based on my feelings.

• Heheheh.... Yessss. Very good.
• Detroit 2 – Penguins 1
• Blues 3 – Stars 4
• Kings 4 – Coyotes 5 [Shootout]
• DUCKS FLY TOGETHER! DUCKS FLY TOGETHER! DUCKS FLY TOGETHER!
• Ducks 5 – Avalanche 2
• Avalanche 0 – Ducks 4
• Positive outcome
• Capitals 4 - Flyers 5
• Negative outcome
• Wild 1 – Jets 2
• Coyotes 3 – Kings 4 [Shootout]
• Maple Leafs 3 – Flyers 2 [Shootout]
• Senators 2 – Islanders 3
• Senators 2 – Islanders 3 [Shootout]
• It’s important to remember the preseason doesn't count and only prospects played anyway.
• Devils 5 - Rangers 4

          My emotions were all over the map. At least Heater scored a goal for Anaheim in that 4-0 blowout. Nathan is showing the makings of a Jets fan, though he still insists that the Bruins are his #1; if only it wasn't at the expense of the Wild. Stephanie also protested when I hated on the Devils, meaning that there might be a third Devils fan in my life (barf.) We watched a video that showed every goal from the first round of the 2013-2014 playoffs, which was kind of shock therapy for Alaric and feel-good entertainment for me. (If the later rounds were included, it might have been a different story, though beating up the Pens would certainly be a highlight.) After Stephanie took off, we watched the first episode of Gotham. As I expected, it dodged the hype and was neither stellar nor awful. I'm leaning toward the first superlative, but it might take a little time to grow on me. I will say that I'm very happy that Penguin is the first recognizable, big-name villain; his actor is appropriately weird and captures that hallmark Penguin "fishiness." This series' interpretation of Falcone is also shaping up to be much better than that of the Nolan trilogy. I reserve judgment for now, but this taste of Gotham has been promising.