The Daily Bongo

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Friday, July 3, 2009 -- Evening

Fedotenko returns
Ruslan Fedotenko signed a one year, $1.8 million deal with the Pens today. Fedotenko did a good job last year, and it really was a shame that he broke his hand in that fight with Colby Armstrong. Fedotenko was on a good run at that point, and it took him awhile to get back into the groove when he came back. No word yet on Petr Sykora, but Ray Shero seems to think that he can just let Sykora sit around because no one else will want him.

Thursday, July 2, 2009 -- Afternoon

Will They Stay or Will They Go? They Go...
Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill will not be Pens next season. Hal Gill will be going to the Montreal Canadiens for $4.5 million over two years. Rob Scuderi will be going to the LA Kings. So far, the only thing that I have heard there is that the signing happened. One of the local sports reporters, Rob Rossi, who reports for the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, said that he got a confirmation text from Scuderi. TSN finally posted the details for Scuderi. He'll get a total of $13.6 million for four years. Also leaving the Pens is Mathieu Garon. He's heading to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a total of $2.4 million over two years.
Canadian Hockey Team
Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Jordan Staal were invitees to Canada's 2010 Olympic hockey team. This does not mean that they will be on the team, but they have a shot to make the roster. All in all, 46 players were invited.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009 -- Evening

Big Brother 11 Houseguests Announced
Big news from Big Brother 11. We finally got to find out who the houseguests are and what the big twist or plot will be this season. There will be 13 houseguests. Twelve will start the show with a mystery guest to come in after the show starts. The houseguests are going to be split into one of four groups: popular, athletes, brainiacs and off-beats. Yep, it's a theme of high school cliques. Someone on one of the Big Brother rumor sites thought that might be the case. The house looks really cool.
      
I can't wait for the new season to start. Here's a break down of the houseguests:
It will be interesting to see how the guests are split up. Some are obvious; others aren't.

Monday, June 29, 2009 -- Evening

Guerin and Adams stay with Pens
Both Craig Adams and Billy Guerin have agreed to contracts to remain with the Pens. Craig Adams took a pay cut to stay, taking only $500,000 a year for a two year deal, which is less than last year's $600,000. The Guerin deal was just made public at 8 p.m. this evening. Guerin's deal is a $2 million contract for one year. It will be interesting to see what happens with the other free agents: Ruslan Fedotenko, Petr Sykora, Miroslav Satan, Rob Scuderi, Hal Gill, Philippe Boucher and Mathieu Garon.

Sunday, June 28, 2009 -- Afternoon

Rachel Alexandra
Yesterday was the 1 1/8th mile Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park. Rachel Alexandra was entered, and only two other fillies were entered against her. Malibu Prayer took the early lead and set a fast pace. She was followed closely by Flashing. Rachel Alexandra waited behind them and made her move around the turn to home. At that point, neither of the other two had anything left in the tank. Rachel Alexandra galloped easily to a 19 and 1/2 length win in 1:46.33. Malibu Prayer finished in second place 12 1/4 lengths ahead of Flashing. There do not seem to be any challengers in the filly realm for Rachel Alexandra.
"Windows" commericals
Since the Microsoft commercials came out a few months ago, I thought they were incredible dumb. They showcased people who were obviously computer illiterates talking about things like "power," claiming that Windows has it and the Mac doesn't. But wait a minute! The Microsoft commercials aren't about the operating system, the only thing that Microsoft is responsible for. Instead, the commercials are about the amount of memory, screen size, webcams, and other hardware options. What the frick does that have to do with Windows? Ummm, nothing! Apple is responsible for both the hardware and the operating system. And yes, a Mac laptop is powerful, complete with webcam, light, and more expensive. The difference is that the operating system works well with the hardware. The reason I switched to a Mac was because I wasn't able to do the work that I wanted with images and video. I will continue to pay more, but in the end, I get what I pay for: quality of hardware AND operating system. Believe me, Windows Vista is inferior to Mac OS X.

Friday, June 27, 2009 -- Late Evening

2009 NHL Draft
This evening was the first round of the NHL Draft. Because the Pens won the Stanley Cup, there were the last to pick. They chose Simon Despres, a defenseman. The pick made sense because we have some aging defenseman, and Rob Scuderi might not be around next season because he is a free agent. Weird to think of that because the next season is just a little over three months away.
Michael Jackson death
It seems that the corner couldn't come up with a conclusive outcome on Michael Jackson's autopsy. Rumors and stories were being spread all day that Jackson had a huge prescription drug problem, and a personal doctor, who wasn't licensed to practice in California, had just injected Jackson with Demerol. One of the signs of an overdose of Demerol is respiratory depression. It seems that shortly after the injection, Jackson started to experience shallow breathing. Because the injection did not occur in a hospital, there wasn't any thing available to counter the problems. There are lots of questions about the doctor, but it seems that just like the other early celebrity deaths, Jackson had problems with indescriminate use of prescription drugs. The final results and conclusion of the autopsy are being held off until the toxicology reports are in. That implies to me that there was nothing physically wrong, so it comes down to overdose or drug interaction. I'm not a huge Jackson fan. Yes, he had some good songs in the early 80s, but for the past 20 years, he has just been a freak show.