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Well, I broke down and bought a new laptop today.  Okay, “broke down” makes it sound like a gut wrenching decision was made……not really.  For a couple of months I have been looking to get a newer, smaller, lighter laptop to use when I travel.  I really enjoyed the HP that I had been using, but it was about 3 years old and I was looking for a little tech refresh in a smaller package.

I purchased a new HP Pavilion DV2225 from Best Buy.  It is a nice little laptop that weighs in at 5.4 lbs and is 1.5″ high by 9.3″ wide.  It runs on an AMD Turion 64 X2 processor at 1.6 GHz and has 120GB HD, 1GB DDR2 RAM.  It also has a combo DVD-RW/CD-RW drive with Lightscribe Technology.  It came with Windows new OS, Vista Premium Home edition which I thought would be less impressive than I am finding it to be.  So far, it is a very nice upgrade over Windows XP.  Among others, the 3D aero windows viewer is a very nice feature if you often multitask with several open windows.  It also incorporates a gadget sidebar for your desktop, something windows should have adopted long ago.  I will get to give the laptop a trial run in San Diego next week, barring any weather delays (yes, ice is in the forecast for tomorrow). 

 

    

The Pittsburgh Penguins finally lost a regulation game on 19 Feb…..the first one since 10 Jan!  They went on a tear from 10 Jan through 19 Feb racking up 14 wins and two overtime losses…that equated to picking up 30 of 32 possible points during that stretch!  It also elevated them into 4th place in the Eastern Conference, where they currently sit with 75 points, just 7 points shy of 2nd place New Jersey.  They have also moved to 8th place in the league…an incredible comeback season after finishing 29 of 30 last year.     

During the stretch, rookie Jordan Staal has been white hot around the goal.  He has 25 goals in 59 games, 2nd among rookies behind teammate Evgeni Malkin with 29.  Perhaps his best game was against Toronto on 10 Feb in which he scored a hat trick, including the game winner in sudden death overtime.  With the third goal, he became the youngest player in NHL history to score a hat trick at 18 years, 153 days. 

Sidney Crosby has continued his league leading play, although his goals have been lacking.  His ability to make plays continues to show in his assists count.  He continues to lead the league in points with 96….13 points ahead of the second place player (who so happens to be Martin St Louis of Tampa Bay…a fellow University of Vermont alumni). 

Despite the one recent loss, the Penguins continue to tear it up…rebounding for a win against Florida in overtime on Thursday.  They are now in a home ice playoff position and fighting to keep that home ice advantage with 21 of 82 games left to play in the regular season.  They could be the surprise team in the playoffs this season!

The trade deadline is fast approaching and I would like to see the Penguins go after a quality defenseman and/or an enforcer to help protect the talent that this team has as it heads towards the gritty part of the season and the playoffs.  I don’t really have anyone in mind, but I hope that they make a move for the good of the team. 

In the meantime, I continue to thoroughly enjoy watching this great, young team!