SCF Predators @ Penguins 05/29/2017

Pittsburgh 5  Nashville 3

Nick Bonino - 2 G

Sidney Crosby, Chris Kunitz - 2 A each

Pittsburgh managed just 12 shots on goal and went for over 37 minutes at one point without a shot



Pittsburgh leads best of seven series 1-0

B365V4.12 - Job losses

     So I guess our saga begins two Mondays ago.  I was sitting in the office, sorting weekend monies and paperwork and what not.  That us a process where I have to match the dropped amounts of money with what is listed on the cashiers sheet at the end of the shift, first I have to match the numbers and drops, then I have to sort the food stamps, the credit and debit cards and the overrings.  Overrings are when a cashier mistakenly hits the wrong key or a customer decides they don't want something that has already been scanned in, then the transaction has to be cashed out and labeled as an overring and dropped with their paperwork, then I get to go in on Monday and void out all of the overrings to get to our true sales number.  I imagine some people think I don't pay attention to such things, but in my stack of overrings was one for 8 Wicked male enhancement pills.  I could see maybe one, but in order to have 8 you either have to scan the same item 8 times or select 8 as the quantity before scanning and because it is a pill, it isn't an item we would take back after it left the store.  So I went all CSI Pittsburgh and took the time from the receipt and cross referenced it with our camera system.  Sure enough, someone did come in and purchase 8 pills (retail value of approx. $85), but the cashier took the money and the customer left.  This is why we do not let cashiers do voids on their own, theft is always a potential problem.  So I show the receipt to Brian as well as the camera footage showing the transaction did take place unlike what the overring stated, because my authority does not allow me to fire people, even over the obvious.  Hell an employee could shoot someone in our store and I still would need approval before anything could be done.  After seeing the case I had laid out, Brian called said employee in to explain himself.  The first excuse was that the customers credit or debit card didn't work.  That is funny simply because it shows on camera the customer handing over cash for payment, then he couldn't remember why he turned it in, so he leaves and calls Brian and says well Matt has it in for me, as if that explains anything we saw, then a few hours later he decides to remember that the customer brought them right back, which I watched the tapes for almost an hour afterward and he did not in fact come back, so with my detective sleuthing skills I managed to catch another thief and got him fired to boot.

      If that were the only job loss I were responsible for, it would have been an okay last couple of weeks, but I screwed up.  As you all know by now, I post little game recaps of all of the Pens hockey games, complete with the NHL.com video  recap.  I have tried to stay more on point during the playoffs, just because the Penguins luck seems to be better when I am on point (6 years doing this, 6 playoff appearances, 2 Stanley Cups, don't fuck with what seemingly works), then came the Pens - Sens series.  After Pittsburgh lost game 1, I got the recap up the very next day, after game 2 the series was tied and I got a little too comfortable, game 3 saw the Pens lose again and Marc-Andre Fleury get pulled.  Of course I scrambled to get the next two recaps up, but by then the damage was done.  If game 3 was the last MAF plays in a Penguins uniform, you all can blame me for not doing my due diligence.  That is a distinct possibility with the Penguins going on to win the series and the expansion draft looming.

     I should explain why I am doing a Friday blog on a Sunday night, that would be in part because until today, I have worked 13 straight days and 20 of the last 21.  I did sneak a concert in during that time frame, Coheed and Cambria at Stage AE.  It was my first outdoor show there and I like their outdoor venue more than inside which is colorless and boxy.  They put on a killer show, better than the 2016 show at the same venue, and while I never heard of the opening act before, The Dear Hunter, they played a pretty killer opening set as well.  C&C played some stuff off of their new album/CD/mp3 or whatever the kids call it these days, but they played enough of their older stuff that those of us closing in on SSI could appreciate it.  Being outside meant I wasn't cramped in the inside venue with a bunch of drunks, last show I was at I saw two people vomiting on the floor.  I've never understood the need to drink so much at a show that you cant remember it the next morning.  Sounds like a waste of money to me, but what do I know.

      There was some good news to cone out of my run of work days, I like to use them as bargaining chips when so needed, so as I was talking to Ed the other day on the phone, after game 5 of Pens - Sens to be precise, I asked him if he could check with 7 Up to see if they had any Stanley Cup Final tickets left.  I know, putting the cart before the horse, but the alternative was to leave time and potential tickets slip away.   Ed talks to the regional manager at 7 Up, they have the beverage contract at PPG Paints Arena, and we are one of their larger customers for an independent store, lo and behold they do have tickets left, two for game 1 and 4 for game 2, I said listen, I am not trying to be greedy, the two would work just fine.  And that, my friends is how I am getting into my first Stanley Cup Final game Monday night.  Truth be told, anyone could have went with me, usually I will post on Facebook that iIneed a "Partner in Crime", which means I have an extra ticket(s) to a sporting event.  Luckily someone responded, I hate eating tickets that I have finagled my way into.  Plus these are in the 7 Up  box, I cant just scalp and extra ticket on the street, 7 Up management will be there, last thing they need is some unknown stragglers meandering into their seating area and me trying to explain how they got a ticket in the first place.

      Well my laundry is just about done, I am multi tasking here, so I guess this entry is just about done as well.  Toodles.

ECF Senators @ Penguins 5/25/2017

Pittsburgh 3  Ottawa 2  2OT

Chris Kunitz - 2 G, A

Justin Schultz - G, A

Pittsburgh is now 13-2 after a playoff loss under Mike Sullivan



Pittsburgh wins best of seven series 4-3

ECF Penguins @ Senators 5/23/2017

Ottawa 2  Pittsburgh 1

Evgeni Malkin - G

Matt Murray - 28 SV

Pittsburgh lost despite out shooting Ottawa 46-30



Best of seven series is tied 3-3

ECF Senators @ Penguins 5/21/2017

Pittsburgh 7  Ottawa 0

Carter Rowney - 3 A

Matt Murray - 25 SV

Pittsburgh has held Ottawa to 0 for 29 on the power play so far this series



Pittsburgh leads best of seven series 3-2

ECF - Penguins @ Senators 5/19/2017

Pittsburgh 3  Ottawa 2

Sidney Crosby - G, A

Jake Guentzel - 2 A

First game in the series where Pittsburgh has scored more than one goal



Best of seven series tied 2-2

ECF Penguins @ Senators 5/17/2017

Ottawa 5  Pittsburgh 1

Sidney Crosby - G

Matt Murray - 19 SV

Marc-Andre Fleury pulled after allowing 4 1st period goals



Ottawa leads best of seven series 2-1

ECF Senators @ Penguins 5/15/2017

Pittsburgh 1  Ottawa 0

Phil Kessel - G

Marc-Andre Fleury - 23 SV

Fleury now has 62 playoff wins, most among active goaltenders



Best of seven series tied 1-1

ECF - Senators @ Penguins 5/13/2017

Ottawa 2  Pittsburgh 1  OT

Evgeni Malkin - G

Marc-Andre Fleury - 33 SV

This is the first time this post season Pittsburgh has trailed in a series



Ottawa leads best of seven series 1-0

B365V4.11 - Peeling back the layers

      Is it just me or do we all have places where we just put shit?  Nothing important mind you, not talking bank books or passports r anything that some day might be important, but just knick knacks and what not and god forbid the day you need them, you know exactly where they are, the place where you just dump shit.  For me, one of those spots is on top of my refrigerator.  I have a box on top with a bunch of old tax forms and what not, I have a few boxes of Christmas cards, should I feel the need to do Christmas cards again I know where to find some without going shopping, I think there was a couple of candy canes up there at one point, like I said, a place to dump shit.

Anyway, I come home from work today (today being Thursday) and settle in, crack open the laptop and was watching the most recent episode of "Arrow" on the CW page, when I start hearing faint jingling music.  At first I thought maybe there was an ice cream truck coming up my street.    Why an ice cream truck?  Because I was trained in Elderton, PA and one of the things about growing up there was once in a while, though never on a regular schedule, an ice cream truck would cruise through the town.  That music led kids to racing back to their homes for whatever money they could get, in order to buy frozen treats from said ice cream guy.  Because he had no regular schedule, spotting him was like a Bigfoot sighting, the only evidence one could obtain was a frozen treat that would melt pretty quickly, thus eliminating any evidence of his existence whatsoever. 

Honest to god, this shit does all go together.  So I am sitting in my apartment and I start hearing these musical chimes.  I don't know where they are coming from, but it would seem to be my apartment.  I am not playing music, so I know it s not me.  I meander my way to the kitchen, the music is louder there, though it is not coming from outside, so I can rule out a ice cream truck guy sighting (as well as a Bigfoot sighting), so I am left with the fact that there is music coming out of my kitchen and I don't now why.  So I powered up my Chris Hansen investigate skills to solve the mystery of the musical kitchen and after some searching I found out what happened.  I had went shopping the other day at Scratch N Dent (Grocery Liquidators in the Strip if you really need to know) and one of the things I bought was a box of Tiny Toast cereal ($1.99 a box, holla!).  Of course when I came home I put the cereal on top of the refrigerator, with all of the other useless shit.  I had taken it down a few times and feasted on the deliciousness of cereal and at one point I put the box back on top of the fridge, and I also knocked of a little stuffed animal that was up there, a stocking stuffer type thing my mom gave me a couple o years ago, one where you squeeze it's tail or something and it plays a Christmas carol.  By knocking it off of the fridge it fell right into the garbage can next to the fridge, so my garbage was now playing music.  Hopefully Tuesday I can now freak out the garbage man, much like I was freaked out this evening, because I was not fishing out the stuffed animal, covered with food and other garbage like materials, from the trash can, I simply filled up the bag with more trash and tok it outside.

I trust most readers of this blog (all two of you, by the way, hello and all that jazz) I am taking full credit for the Penguins game 7 win.  As you know by hanging out here, I post videos and updates of all Penguin games and as you also know I got way behind before the playoffs, in fact I was two moths behind, but because since I have started doing this on my blog, the Penguins have won two Stanley Cups and have yet to miss the playoffs.  Leading into game 7, I was still most of the Pens - Caps series behind, so Inthrew together a few more entries and got the blog up to date in regards to hockey prior to faceoff of game 7, which of course the Pens won (i have since added game 7, you don't fuck with something that works after all) in part because I had the blog caught up to date.  So yes, I am taking credit for the win.

One thing that is rare these days is a Pittsburgh Pirates win, but I can top that.  I had tickets for the Sunday game a couple of weeks ago, against the NY Yankees.  Not only did I get to see a Pirates win, but I also got a sun tan/ sun burn in the process and am now in the midst of peeling already this year and it is still May. 

I have taken to having my Amazon deliveries shipped to work.  Since I am there more often than not, it just makes sense to me, plus it removes the possibility of someone stealing packages off of the front porch before I get home, (again, given how much I am at work, that is a distinct possibility).  Plus there is the added bonus of breaking up a routine work day with presents, at least i my feeble mind that is the case.  Twice this week i got to disrupt my week with presents.  One was the newest Robert Parker/Ace Atkins Spencer novel, which I had preordered on Amazon before it was released.  As an added bonus I got $2 back on the book as it decreased in price from the time I ordered it and it became available, which Amazon does on preordered items, you get them at the cost of when they actually go on sale if it is lower, if it is higher you still pay the price you bought it at.  That arrived on Wednesday.  Then I went and ordered shoes, in part because my current ones are falling apart, and I have worn down the tread on them to the point where walking in the rain is much like walking on ice, plus they are killing my feet.  Thanks to some saved up points on Swagbucks, I cashed in for a $5 Amazon gift card, so I managed to get a new pair of Fila running shoes for $24.99.  Those arrived at work today (Friday, yes it is taking me two days to write a blog, what of it?)  I jokingly call them my vacation shoes, hopefully they hold up for the month and change until vacation actually happens. 

Well, this was a disjointed, convoluted mess.  Good thing #cheetotwatwaffle didn't release it in tweets then.

ECSF - Penguins @ Capitals 5/10/2017

Pittsburgh 2  Capitals 0

Marc-Andre Fleury - 29 SV

Bran Rust - GWG

Pittsburgh was out shot 29-28, meaning they were out shot every game in the series



Pittsburgh wins best of seven series 4-3

ECSF - Capitals @ Penguins 5/8/2017

Washington 5  Pittsburgh 2

Jake Guentzel - G

Evgeni Malkin - G

Guentzel leads the NHL in playoff goals with 9



Best of seven series tied 3-3

ECSF Penguins @ Capitals 5/6/2017

Washington 4  Pittsburgh 2

Carl Hagelin - G

Phil Kessel - G

Pittsburgh surrendered a 2-1 lead after two periods



Pittsburgh leads best of seven series 3-2

ECSF Capitals @ Penguins 5/3/2017

Pittsburgh 3  Washington 2

Jake Guentzel - G, A

Marc-Andre Fleury - 36 SV

Pittsburgh wins despite being out shot 38-19



Pittsburgh leads best of seven series 3-1

ECSF Capitals @ Penguins 5/1/2017

Washington 3  Pittsburgh 2  OT

Evgeni Malkin - G, A

Justin Schultz - G, A

Pittsburgh scored twice in the final 1:53 to force overtime



Pittsburgh leads best of seven series 2-1

ECSF Penguins @ Capitals 4/29/2017

Pittsburgh 6  Washington 2

Phil Kessel - 2 G, A

Marc-Andre Fleury - 34 SV

Fluery has stopped 67 of 71 shots through the first two games of this series



Pittsburgh leads best of seven series 2-0

ECSF - Penguins @ Capitals 4/27/2017

Pittsburgh 3  Washington 2

Sidney Crosby - 2 G

Marc-Andre Fleury - 34 SV

Pittsburgh was outshot 35-21 in the win



Pittsburgh leads best of seven series 1-0

ECQF - Blue Jackets @ Penguins 4/20/2017

Pittsburgh 5  Columbus 2

Marc-Andre Fleury - 49 SV

Phil Kessel - G, 2 A

Fluery has set a team record with 57 career playoff wins



Pittsburgh wins best of seven series 4-1

ECQF Penguins @ Blue Jackets 4/18/2017

Columbus 5  Pittsburgh 4

Phil Kessel - 3 A

Evgeni Malkin - 2 A

Second straight game where Pittsburgh spotted Columbus a two goal lead after one period of play



Pittsburgh leads best of seven series 3-1

ECQF - Penguins @ Blue Jackets 4/16/2017

Pittsburgh 5  Columbus 4  OT

Jake Guentzel  - Hat Trick (3 G)

Bryan Rust - 2 G

Pittsburgh came back from a 3-1 deficit in the win



Pittsburgh leads best of seven series 3-0

ECQF - Blue Jackets @ Penguins 4/14/2017

Pittsburgh 4  Columbus 1

Marc-Andre Fleury - 39 SV

Sidney Crosby - G, 2A

Crosby's goal was his 50th playoff goal



Pittsburgh leads best of seven series 2-0

ECQF - Blue Jackets @ Penguins 4/12/2017

Pittsburgh 3  Columbus 1 

Marc-Andre Fleury - 31 SV

Evgeni Malkin - 2 A

Fluery got the emergency start for Matt Murray in goal, due to an undisclosed injury



Pittsburgh leads best of seven series 1-0