Trying...

There are certain days, where frankly, its hard to do anything. Today was one of those days. I just had a very difficult time getting started on stories today, though I eventually was able to get something done. The weird thing is, a year ago, this kind of day might have been a week. At OCC, unless I had a specific task that needed doing, chances are I was just sort of zoned out. And unless I had class, I really had no reason to snap out of it. And in college, even if you're zoned out, there's classes you can still attend, and hell, maybe still learn something in, if you are even kind of paying attention. Now I do need to snap out of these funky feelings, as I get paid to write these articles. Eventually, the feeling left me today, but I guess it's part of growing up to get these sorts of days to a minimum.

Its also funny how doing some things skews your views. Today, I attended an Alton Board of Selectmen meeting. Now, because Adam usually covers these meetings, and because Alton is a bigger town, I have had less experience with this board then the others. But somehow, they managed to finish their meeting tonight, which had a fairly extensive agenda, in about 45 minutes. So I got a very nice break, in terms of having more of an evening than I expected.

I want to say something about the return of the NHL. Because of my upbringing, because my grandfather was a union man, I tend to side with the player's in labor disputes. But they got crushed in this deal. Now, this may turn out to be better for the game in the long run, though. Sidney Crosby is coming into the game, perhaps to save hockey in Pittsburgh. And now, the owners don't have the excuse that they'll be poor. This also might just guarantee that the smaller Canadian teams, Edmonton, Ottawa and Calgary, stay in Canada. It will take a while for hockey to get back to where it was, but frankly, this whole idea of it being irrelevant is more a product of conventional wisdom than fact. If hockey were being played, it would be a factor in people's minds, because it wasn't hockey was mocked. It'll be important again, and now, with NBC getting both the Olympics and the league, there will be lots of great stories to catch the imagination of people.