You take the good with the bad.
Feb. 5th, 2008 10:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bzarcherSo, for the price of listening to 2 hours of sales pitches and SE demos from Symantec (some of which, I admit, were pretty good - there's a very high chance that some of the stuff we were shown, especially application virtualization (yes, -application- virtualization, hot damn) will get picked up by SCI. Our datacenter operations guy was there along with a bunch of our open systems people, and he damn near creamed his jeans during that particular demo), I got to go to the Jackets game and sit in a very nice suite.
A very mixed bag of a night and a game. I think the Jackets deserved a win and got screwed on a few calls, but at least they got a point out of it. On the down side, LeClaire took a really nasty hit from a Capitals player that forced him to leave the game. Unfortunately, if Pazzy is down for more than a 5-10 game stretch....shit. That's bad. Really bad. I don't think it totally kills our playoff hopes, because you never know how the team is gonna respond to that (I suspect we -will- see Mason up in Columbus again. Sorry, Kitchener), but it certainly isn't helpful.
We watched the game from the not just a suite, but one of the founder's suites (even swankier than the suite I was in previously with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
flaggerx, which I didn't think was possible), and even better, we were -directly above the cannon and directly below the pyro charge.-
Some of the Symantec SEs and a few of the other clients at the meeting were out of towners who had never been to an NHL game or Nationwide before, and their reactions were -hilarious-.
Also, beyond the steakhouse cut calamari frites in roasted red pepper and tomato aoli*, wild mushroom soup with Parmesan reggiano, and Schezuan pepper coated seared Ahi, we got fed off a dessert cart literally the size of your average street food cart (all you could eat), and given white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate edible shot glasses, filled with Baileys, Kahlua, and Godiva liqueur, respectively.
Sometimes, it's a hard life, folks.
The other thing that really sticks out at me was the play of Ovechkin. I think Columbus did really well holding him to two goals (one of which was the OT winner). The man just...moves. It's amazing to watch him in person. There were times when it seemed almost like he moved across the ice like a laser beam. On one play, he was boxed in by Foote and Hejda, with Novotny coming up ice to seal the hole and get the puck, and then somehow he managed to just flow around all three like smoke, and only Nash getting down and coming over to block the shot kept him from shooting at LeClaire on open ice.
He also really, clearly, is having fun out there. He celebrated all of his teams goals like they just won the Olympics. He cheered for big hits, he cheered when there were fights, I think he might have even gone up to Nash and cheered him for his 5 on 3 shorthanded goal. He's got a huge amount of energy, and it's easy to see why he's the face of his team and the league.
I seriously wonder if he will get the C in Washington next year, instead of just being an assistant. I think only his English skills might prevent it. (I heard him interviewed on Saturday night. He does OK for someone who has only been in the US for 3 years, but I really wouldn't call it polished to the level he'd probably need to be the primary player responsible for speaking with the on and off ice officials.)
Also, during the pre-game warmups and skate, he was chewing bubblegum and blowing bubbles when he wasn't in drills, and I thought that was hilarious. He also skated around the Capitals half of the ice and threw at least 6 pucks over the glass for the kids that usually gather at the boards that I noticed, maybe more, which will always put a player in my good graces.
Pictures are up in my Flickr...and wow. I'm really tired now.
Have a good night, everyone. I'll see you in the morning.
*WTF. My spellchecker knows "Kaolin", and suggests it, but it doesn't know Aoli?
A very mixed bag of a night and a game. I think the Jackets deserved a win and got screwed on a few calls, but at least they got a point out of it. On the down side, LeClaire took a really nasty hit from a Capitals player that forced him to leave the game. Unfortunately, if Pazzy is down for more than a 5-10 game stretch....shit. That's bad. Really bad. I don't think it totally kills our playoff hopes, because you never know how the team is gonna respond to that (I suspect we -will- see Mason up in Columbus again. Sorry, Kitchener), but it certainly isn't helpful.
We watched the game from the not just a suite, but one of the founder's suites (even swankier than the suite I was in previously with
flaggerx, which I didn't think was possible), and even better, we were -directly above the cannon and directly below the pyro charge.-Some of the Symantec SEs and a few of the other clients at the meeting were out of towners who had never been to an NHL game or Nationwide before, and their reactions were -hilarious-.
Also, beyond the steakhouse cut calamari frites in roasted red pepper and tomato aoli*, wild mushroom soup with Parmesan reggiano, and Schezuan pepper coated seared Ahi, we got fed off a dessert cart literally the size of your average street food cart (all you could eat), and given white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate edible shot glasses, filled with Baileys, Kahlua, and Godiva liqueur, respectively.
Sometimes, it's a hard life, folks.
The other thing that really sticks out at me was the play of Ovechkin. I think Columbus did really well holding him to two goals (one of which was the OT winner). The man just...moves. It's amazing to watch him in person. There were times when it seemed almost like he moved across the ice like a laser beam. On one play, he was boxed in by Foote and Hejda, with Novotny coming up ice to seal the hole and get the puck, and then somehow he managed to just flow around all three like smoke, and only Nash getting down and coming over to block the shot kept him from shooting at LeClaire on open ice.
He also really, clearly, is having fun out there. He celebrated all of his teams goals like they just won the Olympics. He cheered for big hits, he cheered when there were fights, I think he might have even gone up to Nash and cheered him for his 5 on 3 shorthanded goal. He's got a huge amount of energy, and it's easy to see why he's the face of his team and the league.
I seriously wonder if he will get the C in Washington next year, instead of just being an assistant. I think only his English skills might prevent it. (I heard him interviewed on Saturday night. He does OK for someone who has only been in the US for 3 years, but I really wouldn't call it polished to the level he'd probably need to be the primary player responsible for speaking with the on and off ice officials.)
Also, during the pre-game warmups and skate, he was chewing bubblegum and blowing bubbles when he wasn't in drills, and I thought that was hilarious. He also skated around the Capitals half of the ice and threw at least 6 pucks over the glass for the kids that usually gather at the boards that I noticed, maybe more, which will always put a player in my good graces.
Pictures are up in my Flickr...and wow. I'm really tired now.
Have a good night, everyone. I'll see you in the morning.
*WTF. My spellchecker knows "Kaolin", and suggests it, but it doesn't know Aoli?
