Murphmobile2

These pictures are that of the '08 SCION Xd that I bought earlier this week. As you can see its not at all manly BUT it does kind of feel like a space ship because it has buttons to control the radio on the steering wheel and A LOT of other miscelleneous buttons that I am sure to figure out sooner or latter.

This car is was bought primarily because it gets 37 miles to the gallon and has a messely 12,000 miles on it which makes it essentially brank spanking new. I have saved up for this purchase for a VERY VERY long time and plan on enjoying the fruits of my labours for an even LONGER time.

Sycamore Huanted ship

This is one high quality costume, I was getting complements all night from every angle and had a lot of fun with it.

As you can see the pants were a touch too big, but aside from that it was a perfect fit.

Some of the kids wanted to know if I was the joker from the movie, to which I reluctenly said no but they still wanted to shake my hand and take picutres with me which I did so gladly.

There is another costume party tonight that I am going to go to, so you might see more of this handsome devil known now as the "Canadian Joker"

what you can get for $200 at the Shark Tank

Below we have a Sharks 20th anniversary t-shirt, its pretty cool in my humble opinoin. Its going to be a collectors item for sure some time down the road. Also I purchased pictures of 2 players I dont already have. Joe Pavelski and Danny Heatley. When I get home I am going to take down some old pictures and put these bad boys up. I may even frame them.

on the left we have offical NHL western confrence finals pucks. They were used during the pregame warmup by none other then the likes of Joe Thorton, Patrick Marleau, Danny Heatley, Rob Blake, Joe Pavelski and even the Chicago players such as Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa.

Below we have the most bad ass trash can I have ever owned. I really will have trouble topping this one off. I mean who else is proud of there trash can like I am? This thing is going in my bed room and I am going to clean it out everday and wash it like once a week. Nothing but the best trash bags go in that trash can. EVER.

Above we have the sharks pillow that looks like a jersey, it is the perfect size for my bed (small), and super comfortable. Please note that it even has strings like the real jersey does at the neck part. My ship mates are totally jelous, and to make up for it they kind of tease me a little bit but I know its just because they are jelous.

So I dont have pictures of the Christmas presents that I also bought while I was there, and also I didnt get pictures of the hockey cards that I bought while I was there or the sharks banner of playing in Sweden this year for the first 2 games of the regular season. Once I get my own home I am going to have a room dedicated to the Sharks and it will bu flying proudly in that room.

Thank you grandma and grandpa and mom for taking me to the sharks store, I really had a great time and I am already excited to go back to that place.

When your heart has been broken

Hello ladies and gentelmen of whom take the time to check and read my blog. Today I wrote a poem on what it is like to be heart broken. These are simply the feelings that a 20 year old male experianced when getting dumped (during a deployment none the less, but in all reality the timing probably wasn't too big a factor). It's a tad bit more on the depressing side so if you are looking for a pick-me-up I would suggest NOT READING IT. I wrote it because my best friend Alex said that I should embrace the emotions and feelings, not hide or ignore them. That being said if you do read it please enjoy.

When you're not hungry, your stomache doesnt want food
When you're not happy, your face doesn't want to smile
When your heart feels heavy and hard like a rock,
When your sleep gives you no rest
And your rest gives you no life
This is when you know your heart has been broken

The lights are dim,
The food has no flavor
The fire feels cold, and the flames are blue
This is when you know your heart has been broken

When you have given your everything
When your future is a jet black sheet of nothing
When your mirror shows you the face of failure
When you have these feelings my friends,
You are heart broken

Never again will I mock a heart broken man
Never again will I tease a heart broken woman
I will treat them with class
I will treat them with comfort

Now that I have felt the stomach that doesnt want food,
Now that I have had a face that doesnt want to smile,
Now that my sleep has given me no rest
And my rest has given me no life



Now that I have seen the dim lights,
Now that I have eaten the flavourless food,
Now that I have felt the cold blue fire,



Now that I have given my everything
And seen the future of black nothing,
And seen the face of failure in my mirror

Now that I have had my heart broken,
Now that I have had my heart broken,
Now that I have had my heart broken,
I am living a half life
I am only living a half life because my other half has left me,
But before she left,
She made sure that I was heart broken

My first ink has a joke behind it

Yesterday I got my first ever tattoo, it's placed on the top right part of my back. I think that its a great place for it and am very happy that I didnt get it on my arm as I was originally thinking.






I think that it turned out great and that I will enjoy this tattoo for the rest of my life. One part that I am not enjoying that much right now is the fact that it was suppose to read "King of Kings" and "Lord of Lords". Key word in that sentence is SUPPOSE to read. Matt forgot the last "s" in the Lords part and so it turns out that wearing my "Comnedy of Errors" t-shirt wasnt that good of an idea after all....

I am sure that this is an easy fix though, adding a "s" shouldnt be too exspensive and when I go get my next tattoo (probably related to hockey) I will have the artist add the missing "s".

Montreal or Philadelphia? Its just too hard to say

So in the eastern confrence we have what no one could have expected: Montreal winning a best of 7 series against a Washington Capitals team (the Caps scored 101 more goals then the Canadiens) followed by beating the defending Stanley Cup champions. The thing is Montreal is playing like they just cant be eliminated. Playing NOT to lose, the way that Vancouver did when they first acquried Roberto.

Then there is Philadelphia who has just made history by over coming a 0-3 playoff hole. The last time a team did that was 35 years ago. 35 years ago my mom wasnt thinking about me that much...if at all. So despite the fact that these 2 teams are not the cream of the crop as far as regular season success goes you can expect an extremely good series against these teams and whoever makes it to the finals is going to give the western confrence a hard time.

Of course that team is going to be the San Jose Shark, as they will beat Chicago in 6 or 7 games :)

San Jose Sharks vs Chicago Blackhawks, this is going to be worse then Detroit

So my beloved San Jose Sharks are going to be playing in round 3 for the second time in franchise history and its going to be against a very dangerous team. How dangerous you might ask? Ask the fans of the Vancouver Canucks who just got defeated 4 games to 2, in a series that they never really looked like they showed up. Henrick Sedin who lead the league with 112 points in the regular season didnt even lead his team in scoring through 12 games, the title of top scoring Canuck during the post season belongs to Mike Samuleson.

The thing is during the Blackhawks 4 good games agains Vancouver they dominated the Canucks. Out scoring them it seemed by at least 3 goals to 1. The Blackhawks had 2 hat tricks in the 6 game series. You are going to be going far in the post season when you score a hat trick every 3 games. They looked like the grittier team in the series and thats not something that I say often. In Vancouvers defence (no pun inteded) I think about half of their top 6 defence were out with injuries during this series.

For the Sharks to win this is what must happen: 1) Nabokov must be the Sharks best player for the 7 or less games agains the Blackhawks. Nabokov has been extremely good in the playoffs this year but he is going to have to elevate his game even further against the Blackhawks. 2) The Sharks must stay out of the penalty box, this hasnt been a problem for the Sharks for the first 2 rounds but they need to keep moving with their feet and playing with energy. 3) The team must put defence first. Ever forward and defence man must play their best ever hockey in their own zone. Winning defencive faceoffs and getting the puck deep into the Blackhawks zone is going to be key to winning this best of 7 series.

So there you have it, my prediction is that the Sharks will win in 7 games.

Also the Montreal Canadians have just beat the Penguins in 7, so I am going to say that in the next series (against either Boston or Philly) they will win in 7.

To the Western Confrence Finals they go!

I am extremely happy to say, that after watchin an extremely close game between the San Jose Sharks and Detroit Red Wings it was the Sharks who again emerged victorious and are heading to round 3. The Western Confrence Finals. The final score was 2-1 and both of the goals that the Sharks scored were largley due to Jumbo Joe dominating the game they way we know he can. Winning 10 of 14 faceoffs in game 5, scoring 3 goals in 5 games agains the defencively strong Red Wings and setting up Patrick Marleau for 2 game winners which included the O.T. winner in game 3 and the series clincher in game 5.

Joe Thornton was simply the best player in this series, its probably the first time in his 12 year career that some one can say that. It's the first time in his 12 NHL years that he will be playing in the 3rd round which I think is mind boggling due to his skill level. He is averaging a point a game this year in the playoffs.

Patrick Marleau and Evegni Nabokov have also been as good (even better at times) their regular season selves. Nabokov faced probably the most difficult screens that he is going to have to face in the playoffs in this series and came away with a 4-1 record. The next team that Sharks will face is most likely the Chicago Blackhawks but we can't count out the Canucks yet, with Loungo you are out until you win 4 games.

These Sharks have won close games all these playoffs, they have rebounded with a win after every time they lose and they are 7-1 in their past 8 games and havent lost on home ice since April 14th. They also have not lost a game yet when scoring the first goal of the game, or going into the second or third period with a lead. These are obviously statistics that can change in the next 2 rounds but with the way these Sharks have rebounded I dont think that it will matter.

Round 2 has some of the best matchups you could ask for

Those of you who follow hockey as well as I do will likely agree with my title. It has a rematch of Chicago and Vancouver that will have some beautifully physical play, the kind that you only see in the playoffs. These 2 teams hate eachother and the Canucks captain Roberto Loungo was crying when he allowed 7 goals in the game 6 that had the Canucks eliminated last year. This time I believe that the tables will turn and the blackhawks will be leaving 2 rounds sooner then they would like. I say this because I think that Roberto Loungo is going to be amazing, and he has 4 forward lines that are producing better then the chicago lines are.

Philly and Boston is a rematch between the winter classic teams for the second year in a row (last year Detriot and Chicago) will meet in the playoffs. I thought that neither of these teams would be in round 2 and I was wrong. So now I am going to say that Boston will win this series in 6 games. The main reason I voted Philly off of the island last round was because their goalie was 3rd string and playing against Martin Brouduer. This match up isnt going to come to goaltending, it will come down to how well the forwards play as both teams are missing some of their top scorers and will be needing now more then ever some production from their depth players.

I am had a pretty decent chuckle at one of my earlier blog post where I said that the 8th seed of the eastern confrence would NOT be going to round 2. I was wrong and for the second year in a row the president trophy winner lost the first round. 3 days latter I still cant believe that the Washington Capitals have lost but it is what it is and now I am going to say that the Pittsburgh Penguins will win in 5 games.

I wont go to indepth with the Sharks and Red Wings because I pretty much made an intire blog post on that series alone but I will say that I am super happy that my room mate who doesnt like hockey (Tyler Juel) has duty on Sunday (game 2 day) so my more hockey friendly roomate (Giacalone) and I can watch the game on the big screen t.v.

Sharks agains the Red Wings...this could be bad

So it is now set in stone, the sharks will be facing the red wings in round 2 and this has got to be the worst matchup the sharks could have in round 2. The Red Wings had a 3-1 regular season record against the Sharks, and I believe that was there record during the regular season last year and 3 years ago the Sharks were eliminated by the Red Wings in 6 games. That makes the record 4-10 from there most recent games from what memorie serves.

I just have a bad feeling about this, to make matters even worse the top line of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Danny Heatley that combined for about 83 goals throughout 82 regular season games has combined for 1 post season goal in 6 games. If the San Jose Sharks are to win this series the biggest thing that needs to change is the production from the big line. It has to step up to its regular season numbers or better.

The special teams are pretty even although I would give the edge to the red wings on the powerplay and say that the sharks are better penalty killers. Another advantage for the sharks would be that they were the least penalized team in round 1, if they can keep that up then I would say that the sharks have the all around better special teams for this round.

I am saying that the sharks will win in 5 games, Nabokov will be stunning in goal and the big line will be offensively productive, after winning the first 2 games the Red Wings will know that they arent going to be able to win the series and wont.

round 2! Its been a while...

Okay so i struck out when i guessed that philly would lose to New Jersey but I was correct in saying that the Pittsburgh Penguins would defeat the Senators and more importantly I was correct in predicting that the San Jose Sharks would defeat the Colorado Avalanche.

The sharks scored 5 or more goals in 3 of the 6 games and Nabokov (with the exception of allowing 3 goals on 4 shots in period 2 of game 2) has been extremely solid and has given his team a chance to win every game. Looking back on the series, the arguement could be made that the sharks should have swept the avalanche. The sharks just had 2 extremely unlucky bounces go against them and that is why it went to 6 games.

The sharks powerplay was extremely good chipping in 5 goals on 26 (19%) powerplay opportunities, there penalty kill only allowed 2 goals on 15 chances (87%), if the sharks can keep the special teams working so well there is no reason to think that they can't win the cup.

Next up for the sharks to sink there sharp playoff teeth on: Nashville, Los Angelas, Detriot or Phoenix. Essintally half of the teams in the western confrence playoffs might be visiting the shark tank in the coming week and we will have no idea for sure who we will be playing until Monday night at the soonest. I am personally hoping to face the Nashville Predators because we have a 2-0 playoff record against them, that means that they Chicago blackhawks would be out of the playoff picture and they (just like the Avalanche) lack any kind of scoring forward.

Now I can watch the rest of what has been a spectacular first round with no stress :) I will be just like the sharks taking a day or two to rest (The rest will only be a menatl one as I still have lots of work coming to me this week on the Sycamore).

I would just like to note that after watching the game, i got an email from my Naylene saying that the sharks won! In capital letters too, so obviously she was happy for me :) it made my day knowing that she knows my passion and is willing to help me keep up to date with it.

New house and room

bathroom floor

shelves that I made
my full closet

my room with a canuck towel for some reason? :)

this wall is more like it :)

So for those of you who are well informed with my life you know that because of one reason or another i have had to move to a new house. Here are some pics of the place, I love the place so far and my room feels like a real bed room.

Why the sharks will beat the avalanche

The sharks will beat the avalanche in the stanley cup playoffs this year because:

The sharks have the superior special teams in comparison to the avalanche, including a powerplay that clicks 3% more often and a penalty kill that stops the puck an allarming 5% more often.

The colorado avalnche have no one on their team with over 30 goals, the sharks have 2 such players in Patrick Marleau (44 was a career high) and Danny Heatley (39 was actually a disapointment considering he spent much of the season playing with Joe Thornton). You can easily make the conclussion that the sharks will be scoring more goals then the avalanche in this series.

The sharks have a better goalie. Evgeni Nabokov finished the season with 44 wins and only lost in regulation 16 times through 70 starts. Those numbers are simply jaw dropping and even though I would give the vezina trophy (awarded to the top goaltender in the league as voted by the 30 general managers at the end of the season) to about 3 goalies before giving it to Nabokov i would say that Nabokov has been the most consistent goalie this year by far.

So there you have it, I think that these 3 reasons alone justify why the sharks will beat the avalanche in 5 games. Of course, i have been wrong before in saying that the sharks will advance past round 1.....

The Sharks will get past round 1 this year

So the stanley cup playoffs are FINALLY here again, for us shark fans it has been a really long time since the ducks eliminated us in 6 games. 28/April/2009 was the last day that the sharks got to compete for the stanley cup.

So here are my predictions for round one of the playoffs this year:

Western Confrence

Sharks over the Avalanche in 5 games
Blackhawks over the Predators in 6 games
Vancouver over the Kings in 7 games
Coyotes fall to the Red Wings in 6 games

Eastern Confrence

Capitals over the Canadien in 5 games
Devils over the Flyers in 7 games
Sabers over the bruins in 7
Pengiuns over the Senators in 6 games

I will explain why I pick who to beat who in another post, right now i have to get my laundry.

Its that time of the year again

So when I say "its that time of the year again" I mean that the Stanley Cup playoffs are just around the corner, 12 of the 16 playoff teams have already been decided ( including 7 out of 8 in the western confrence) and most teams have 4 or less games left in the season before the "real season" starts.

Now for those of you who know me, I am a very passionate San Jose Shark fan and will be cheering for them throughout the entire playoffs and to their first Stanley Cup. Thats right, I am already going to say that the SJ Sharks will win the Stanley Cup this year. They will have a photo that looks something like this:

I am however getting too far ahead of myself, one of my favourite rounds of the stanley cup playoffs would be round 1 because everyone is fresh and there are 16 teams alive and kicking. For the most part if you make it into the playoffs you can make a prety decent arguement on why you can make it to round 2 or even further. The exception would be in the eastern confrence where whom ever gets the 8th seed is going to face the Washington Capitals. I am going to say right now that the 8th seed in the eastern confrence wont make it to round 2.

So once the final seeds have been planted for both confrences I will make another blog post on who I think will win and in how many games.

Snowboarding at its finest (just kidding)

so I have been into this little thing called snowboarding for the past 3 weeks or so and now I have got some pics of what it is like. Today the weather was mostly good, just foggy in some areas. I took all of these pic on the single chair lift (one of two in north america) the fourth photo is my fav, it has everything in it and you can see very clearly what the traffic is like during a busy cordova saturday (we are talking like 30 people showed up today). I am really starting to love this place now that I have something to do, I feel less fat and much happier in general.

The house I call home in Cordova

So in no particular order I have finally posted pictures of my home in Cordova. The house has been under some serious cleaning over the past two days and I decided that I would capture it in all of its glory. Not that you can tell but right now it even smells good in the house. The second picture is a little bit of my bed room. I was quiet surprised with the amount of trash I was able to find and of course throw away.

In the fourth picture you can see the wood burning stove, although we hardly use it anymore it is a very nice homing touch. It gives a sort of classical feel to the house. In the fifth photo you can see the couch. Everyone loves the couch because it is super comfortable and you have a great view to the t.v. (nothing like watching the hockey game comfortably). In the last picture we have the kitchen that I went even as far as to do the dishes and bleach the counter.