NHL playoff update #1

Here is everything you need to know about last night's round one/game one playoff game between the St. Louis Blues and the Los Angeles Kings--

• The Blues dominated the game from almost the very start-- physically, in time of possession, and in terms of shots and scoring opportunities.
• Despite this, the Blues managed only one goal-- by Alexander Steen in the first period.
• Predictably, the Kings did put together a brief bit of attacking pressure right at the end of the game. And, also predicatably, they scored (a goal by Justin Williams with 31.6 seconds left-- click here for video).
• The Kings dominated the early part of overtime.
• When Kevin Shattenkirk got a double minor high sticking penalty midway through the first overtime, I assumed the game was about to be over.
• It was, in fact, over, less than a minute later, on Steen's shorthanded goal (see video below).

Game two is tomorrow night. Just in case you want to watch Steen's game-winning goal over and over again, here it is--

Walking the length of Seattle (and back), part one

On June 28, 2012, my daughter, Alexandra, and I began what is planned to be a five-part walk the length and back of the City of Seattle. The first leg of this expedition began from the temporary world headquarters of Ape Canyon News Service in the Seward Park neighborhood of Seattle, proceeded south on Seward Park Avenue S, and continued along Rainier Avenue S until we reached the sign indicating that we had reached the Renton city limits. Shortly after that, we turned around and walked back.

Below: The starting line

Along the way, we saw several businesses.

Below: A combination magic & juggling shop/tae kwon do studio

Below: The Why? Grocery, where we bought a package of trail mix

Below: The Blue Star Food Mart, where we bought peanuts and peanut butter cookies

Upon arriving at the Renton city limits sign (see below), we spent a little bit of time trying to find the corresponding Seattle city limits sign on the other side of the street. We were not successful in this, however, because of the fact that we had not actually been in Seattle for quite a while. Apparently there is a lengthy stretch of unincorporated King County between Seattle and Renton. Had we known this, we could have cut down the length of our walk by several miles (from over nine miles to approximately six-and-a-half).

Below: Along our route, we saw a boat in someone's driveway that had the word Bigfoot written on the side of it-- always a good omen.

Above and below: On the way back, we found the Entering Seattle signs we had been searching for.

All in all, I would consider part one of our expedition to be a success. We reached our goal of walking to the southern border of Seattle and back (even if we did walk several extra miles as well). We encountered few difficulties other than branches hanging over the sidewalk, bewildered stares from passing motorists, and a tiny bit of rain at the very end. We are both very confident that we will do just as well in the next four stages of our expedition.

Below: We approach the finish line to part one