Super Sunday

So the Super Bowl has come and gone. Congrats to the Packers on making sure no one had to listen to their Steeler friends talk about how their team is the greatest. You made the world a better place.

The most important sporting event on Super Sunday was of course the Washington Capitals shutting out the Pittsburgh Penguins (rough day Steel Town). I missed the first period listened to the second on the radio, and got to watch the third and celebrate another Caps win.

My Super Bowl review is simple.

The national anthem was sad. Christina botched the lyrics and sounded like she's been smoking a pack a day.

The game was actually alright but I couldn't really get into it. I was excited when the Packers scored and indifferent to any success the Steelers had.

The commercials were mostly awful. Ok, not awful but boring. The VW Darth Vader kid commercial was funny but everything else was pretty forgetable.

The halftime show was bad for humankind. In 15 minutes the Black Eyed Peas made everyone person in America hate them. Dear NFl, If you have season next year, Mettalica is your halftime show.

I persoanlly let my inner fat kid go and ate a lot of food, most of which isn't good for me but I love pizza, nachos, and ice cream.

I think that's it.

Food Review - Pizza Hut's Big Dipper

I'm going to throw some food knowledge at you. Although I am skinny and most people thing I could stand to eat more, I do eat a lot. I love food. So why not put my food eating to use and help some people avoid making mistakes.

So Pizza Hut is offering the Big Dipper, 24 dipping slices of pizza. It's huge. You party all night with one...

Wrong! Let's start with the obvious, it's not pizza. It's really a cheese breadstick with pepperoni. The sauce is why they're dippers and not pizza. So fail right from the start. I take a huge bite and am instantly mad that this "pizza" has no sauce.

So let's get to sauce. It's pretty good. I mean, the marinara sauce at Pizza Hut is probably the best item they offer. So it's good. But the breadstick to sauce ratio is hard to get right. I either always had too much or too little. While I like the sauce, my attempts to have the big dipper taste like pizza was all in vain.

While at least there was a lot right? Yeah....No. Split between 4 of us, we each had 6 slices and each was hungry for more when we were done. The big dipper didn't offer the all night party lasting pizza as they promise on the commercial.

My advice, don't order this crap.

The Snow Day That Wasn't

So we got a foot of snow in the DMV. It was really a short lived snow storm but thurnder dropping nearly 4 inches an hour makes a nice impression.

So a foot of snow. All schools are closed and most everyone is taking it easy today. It's a good fire, movie, and bottle of wine type of day. I've been waiting for a snow day pretty much all winter. It's been a little disappointing to this point. But we got a foot of snow. Awesome!

Well... Not awesome. I'm at work. The price of being a "full-time musician" is that I had to move back in with my parents. And although I'm working part time right now, I still live with the family.

So my brothers went out last night around 9 when the snow was slowing down and shoveled the driveway and around the cars. Thanks bros...

Also my dad called a guy to come and plow the rest of our driveway (it's half a mile long) and he showed up at 10:30 last night. So the driveway was cleared. I let my car heat up for 20 minutes and pushed the snow off my car and it was off to work for me.

Lame.

At least the snow is pretty to look at.

The Science of Sleep

As I sit here and blankly stare at my computer screen in my current zombie like state, I think to myself, “What did I do to deserve this?”

Ok not really. But I’m freaking tired. I haven’t had a night of enough hours of sleep since… oh let’s say December 1st. To give you an idea on how much sleep I need, if I could stay in bed and just sleep for an entire week, I might be close to making up the hours I’ve missed.

And all this does is led me to question how I ever was able to function on 2-4 hours of sleep every day. I used to go to bed at 12:30-1:00 every night and wake up at 5:30 and, while tired, painfully so on some days, I could function close to normal. Yeah, my eye twitched and I drank coffee like it was water, but I could sit at my desk, put my headphones on and work (mostly) hard.

But I spent 10 months in 2010 as a full time musician (aka jobless). And while I didn’t always get the 8 hours of sleep my body needs (Alarm was set for 8 so I could wake up and run) I could afford myself time to rest, or get extra sleep when I was lacking. If I woke up early on Sunday for church, I good just stay in bed an extra hour or 2 on Monday. And who doesn’t need more sleep on a Monday?

I also was able to go back to sleep, I technique that had escaped me sometime during my high school years. I used to have issues getting to and getting back to sleep. If I got a late night phone call that woke me up, I wasn’t going back to bed. If there was some loud thunder, I wasn’t going back to bed. Awful, I know. But over those 10 months this wasn’t the case. I had to let the cat out of my room every morning to use the litter box and eat but I could walk to the door, open it up and then go right back to bed. Now that I’m working though, I let the cat out, I’m up too.

And I know you’re asking, Bryan why don’t you just leave your door cracked so that cat can come and go as she pleases? It’s a simple answer, when the sun comes up in the morning, even that small crack in the door will let in enough sun light to disturb my sleep. It sounds dumb, and it probably is, but hey, when you have sleeping issues like I do you take care to try and provide the best available sleep possible. And to those who wonder why I just don’t wait to let the cat out until I get up at 7:15, she’s loud and her cries to leave the room have already woken me up.

This morning I even got up at 6:30 of my own accord, without her prompting, and let her out. I hate that my body has learned when I need to be up.

So why am I so tired now? Is it because I’m older and my body is demanding more sleep? Is it because my current job isn’t stimulating enough and I’m just bored? Have I gotten too used to the cushy musicians lifestyle? Whatever the reason, I’m tired of being a zombie and I’d like to spend more time in bed.

Nothing Like That New Album Smell

I want to talk about music for a second. More importantly I want to talk about digital music and how the internet has changed the music industry. So prepare to be bored.

Not really. I actually want to talk about my relationship with the internet and digital music.

I have a love/hate relationship with mp3s. I always have. There is an upside and downside to being able to download music. Let's start at the beginning.

Napster was awesome. It was the first time that free music was so easily available. It was the first time when the internet was finally working productively in my life.

And then I found out I hated Napster. I didn't hate getting music from Napster, I loved that. What I hated was how Napster changed my music buying experience.

I'm a huge Zao fan. When they put out their self-titled album, I had downloaded most or all of that album on Napster and enjoyed it very much. And then I got a pay check, went to Record and Tape Traders and bought the album. But having already heard the album, I wasn't excited. Sure, I put the record into my cd player and listened to it while I drove home but the excitement of hearing the album start to finish for the first time was gone. And I realized that by downloading songs off the album on Napster at different times and listening to them out of order, killed my previous oy in buying cds and listening to them in my car for the first time.

Now I have positive memories of digital music. The late great mp3.com was a great way to browse by genre and check out and find new artist. Epitonic used to be an amazing site to discover great indie and post rock bands.

But I still live in the place of having no excitment buying records. To start, there are no real stores that are music stores anymore (Record and Tape Traders and Tower being out of business) and even Best Buy has cut back their music and dvd second BIG time. Whenever I buy a cd now it's something I already own a digital copy of and have heard. I'm just padding my cd collection by buying albums.

All of this to say, I miss the days of buying a huge stack of cds and getting home to listen to them for the first time.

It's 2011... No seriously, 2010 is over.

And being 2011, it means we only have one more year until we all perish. Ok, technically two because it won't be December of 2012 when the world ends and scientist have admitted defeat in trying to read the Myna calendar and they might have been wrong about that whole 2012 thing.

Anyway, we're a week into 2011 and I feel that's just fashionably late enough for me to do some 2010 reflecting.

I could talk about the lows of 2010 but that's depressing and the poor reader might reconsider living if I post a downer blog so no sad news or bad things. Only good vibes and fast times.

In 2010 I...

Quit my job. While that might not seem like a positive, those on in the inside know that this was a much-needed move. While I at times loved my job and learned a lot and created a lot of stuff I'm super proud (and created a ton of stuff I'm extremely NOT proud of) it was time for me to move on. Audio books weren’t my long-term career goal. The company was struggling financially and a normal days work environment would make most people run for the hills. So after much prayer and consideration I quit.

In 2010 I...

Spent the year as a full time musician. The downside to quitting your job is if you don't find a job, you have major issues. And I have still yet to find a job pertaining to audio or recording of any kind. I'm just too awesome. The upside is sometimes you find a way to make money doing what you love. And I was able to keep myself a float by playing music. It's like a dream come true (minus having to live with my parents).

So I put out a record in February called My Heart to Heaven (and if you don't own it, you should! You can download it for free. www.noisetrade.com/echobrokealone) That record and a handle of shows have helped me make some money, not a whole lot, but it's been a small beacon of financial help. Most of musical conquests involved playing drums. Seriously, making money playing drums is sweet. I also got to mix a handful of cool tracks throughout the year.

In 2010 I...

Grew a freaking sweet beard. It was awesome. 4 months of bearded glory. It had been 4 years since I had grown a beard and growing one in 2010 made me realize that having a bear and not having to shave it awesome.

In 2010 I...

Started covering the Caps for Washington Sports Jam. It's less glamorous then it sounds but I love it. I mostly just live tweet the games I'm already watching (follow us on twitter. @dcsportsjam) I've been on two podcasts breaking down the Caps and hopeful the boys will expand their blog coverage to include my Washington Capitals commentary (so I won't have to bog this blog down with it).

In 2010...

The Caps failed in the playoffs again. Ok, so I am going to be sad for a little bit. After destroying everybody in the regular season and winning the Presidents Trophy by a few billion points, the Caps were bounced by Canadians in the first round of the playoffs. It was stunning and awful. Hopefully 2011 will yield better results.

In 2010 I...

Got to spend a lot of time with my awesome girlfriend Carley! Being a full time musician (aka out of work) means you have more free time then the rest of the working world. Which means I had all sorts of time to spend with my girlfriend, and I did!

It's not a whole lot but you have to focus on what was awesome and learn from and move from what was less then awesome.

2011, prepare to be conquered.

The Fall and Rise and Fall and Rise: Washington Caps 2010/2011 So Far

It’s been an interesting season for the Washington Capitals so far. The team hit 10 wins in only 14 games, better then last season, and the best start in team history. Despite not playing well the guys in red did what they did last year, won. Well, at least until recently. Having jumped out to lead in the South East division, the Caps, who have struggled all season to consistently score, lost 8 straight. While they managed to pick up a couple points during the losing streak, they also managed to give up a lot of ground and dropped to third in the South East behind Atlanta and Tampa Bay. While the losing streak is now over, a 3-2 victory on the road against Ottawa, the team is steal struggling to look like the team that won the Presidents Trophy last year.

There’s been a lot of criticism of this team all year. With Varly sidelined with an injury to start the season off the Caps put all their net minding responsibilities on Michel Neuvirth, who responded great. While the offense hasn’t been clicking, minus two 7 goal performances against the Rangers and Flames, the Caps goaltending and defense has stepped up big time.

While Neuvy has cooled down over the past month, he was hot to start the season. His glove was snagging anything near the net and he made great save after great save to help give the Caps a lot of close, low scoring wins early. With Varlamov out the team turned to Brayden Holtby to step in as Neuvy’s backup. Holtby’s starts were inconsistent. There were flashes of great talent from Holtby but inexperience showed. Holtby’s had better starts down in Hershey since he was sent back down but he’s still been inconsistent between the pipes. A year or two in the AHL will really help is development in something special.

Varlamov came back from injury and look spectacular. He looked like the Varly that everyone feel in love with during the Rangers and Penguins series of the 08/09 season. The question of who would be in net for the Capitals seemed to be answered. They have 2 strong goaltenders, and while Varlamov has shown himself to be the better of the two, you have confidence with either one of them in net. While I still questions some of Neuvy’s puck handling behind the net and both goalies give up way to many soft goals, I don’t think the team will go out and look for a veteran goaltender.

The offseason saw Bruce Boudreau try to help the teams biggest weakness, defense. We all knew the team could fly down the ice and score at will but they couldn’t play defense last year. The penalty kill wasn’t very good and the Caps won too many 6-5/5-4 games. Two many goals allowed and late in the season and in the playoffs you could directly point to defensive breakdowns that lead to easy goals for Caps opponents.

The first month and half/two months of the season we watched a different Caps team play. We saw the team play defense and play defense well. While complaints flew about how the offense was broken, the defense went unnoticed. The Capitals penalty kill went the first 7 or 8 games with a perfect PK and was playing lights out. The Caps were 3 strong lines to start the season, Green and Shultz, Alzner and Carlson, and Poti and Erskine. The team even went out and traded Fleischmann to the Avalanche to acquire Scott Hannan, a big stay at home defensemen.

The biggest issue with the defense is they’ve been so injury plagued the last 2 months that it’s been hard to remain consistent. Poti was out a couple weeks, followed by Green. And while they got Hannan, injuries haven’t allowed for lines to develop and gel. Hannan has played with a different player in just about every game since joining the team. While John Erskine has turned into a solid player for the Caps, Tyler Sloan still sucks. Sloan’s play this season has been woeful and his injury/flu recently has, sadly, been welcome. Jeff Shultz has also been out with a broken thumb and will be out for the 4-5 weeks. While there are 6 solid defenders in DC, Tyler Sloan in reserve, and Brian Fahey always a phone call away in Hershey, anymore injuries on the defensive side of the puck and things could get bad quick.

Now to the offensive side of the ice… The Capitals forwards should be grateful for solid net minding and good defensive play this year. Winning games 2-1 in overtime is not really Washington Capitals’ hockey. It’s certainly not been the Caps way of winning since Boudreau took over as coach. But struggle they have. They dropped the season opener and responded by murdering the Rangers in a 7-2 game. But then for the next month the Caps couldn’t score. The team did nothing on the power play early on. It was almost as if the last couple of years were a fluke. And then the Caps played Calgary and again put up 7 goals and took a statement win. Their offense was back and their power play was working… For a little while. The Caps had a couple of solid weeks in November where they returned to form. They were scoring 4 goals a game and while their defense struggled in that stretch, the team was mostly playing well.

The team’s inability to score goals early in the season and over their recent 8 game losing streak, points to a real problem. While their victory against Ottawa saw the team score twice in 44 seconds in the first 2 minutes of the second period, something we had yet to see this year, the offensive production overall just hasn’t been there. And part of that goes back to last season’s playoff disappointment and the way Montreal played the Caps.

Teams are doing a good job getting sticks on the puck. Anytime the Caps are on the offensive attack teams are finding a way to block shots and passes, and break any sustained pressure or momentum. On top of that, the Caps have become real lazy with their passing. Too many blind backward passes to nobody, or passes side to side that are easily picked off. The Caps have had one, maybe two, good passing games this season. The other thing is teams are doing a great job of double and triple teaming Alex Ovechkin. He hasn’t been successful breaking free from pressure and scoring like he has in past years. While this has opened things up for Backstrom and Semin at points this season, if those guys aren’t hitting the mark it doesn’t matter.

No bounces have gone the Caps way and they seem to be getting teams and goaltenders best performances each time they hit the ice, and that’s to be expected. Tim Thomas was lights out against the Caps going 3-1 in their 4 games this year. The great, pretty, clean shots the Caps made all last year haven’t found their way to the back of the net this season and so the game needs to change. Mike Knuble, Eric Fehr and Brooks Laich have to be solid and have to know their role of playing in front of the net. On those first two lines the Caps really need a guy to stand in front of the net, screen the goalie, and get the dirty goals. Sydney Crosby’s first couple of seasons were spent in front of the net just collecting rebounds and putting them in the net. The Caps need to be a better rebounding team and find a way to take multiple wacks at the puck, like they did against Ottawa. This one shot and done nonsense that’s been happening all season has to stop.

The other thing the Caps need to improve on is their power play. 0-8 in a loss to the Florida Panthers…. 0-8. That can’t happen. The power play hasn’t looked good, even when it’s worked. The Capitals have struggle to get the puck in deep and keep long, sustained pressure with lots of shots, that result in goals. They spend too much time passing, waiting for the perfect shot that they miss chances to just get the puck in front of the net and take swings at it. All this passing is frustrating and it creates, once a game, an odd man, shorthanded rush for the other team. I tweet about it every game and I’m tired of it.

The Caps now have a win after 8 straight losses and hopefully that monkey is off their back. With two games against Pittsburgh coming up, one of them the Winter Classic, and HBO soon to be gone from the locker, I hope this team can build off their win against the Senators and start scoring again. I still believe this team can make and advance in the playoffs and I’m glad this losing streak happened now and not in March.