Over the weekend we went down to Buffalo to see the Sabres play the Penguins. It was my first-ever NHL game which also happened to be the last game of the season and it had some playoff implications to boot. Those who know me know that I’m a baseball fanatic and that hockey really doesn’t do much for me. I was, however, excited to see a pro game for once and it definitely didn’t disappoint.

The Sabres were the NHL’s worst team this year so they were playing the role of spoiler because the Penguins were right on the cusp on making the playoffs. If Pittsburgh won, they were in, but if they lost they were in danger of their season ending earlier than they’d like. I know Pittsburgh had a good team in recent years so I had just assumed that they had already secured a spot in the playoffs but that obviously wasn’t the case.

We were in the last row in the upper bowl, but still had a great view of the entire ice. One of the first things I noticed is that you can literally be sitting in the last row and still feel relatively close to the action. If you’re in the last row in a baseball stadium it can feel like you’re years away from the action. In fact, I’ve actually sat above the foul pole at the Rogers Centre.

Another thing that stood out immediately was the pace of play. It’s more or less non-stop from beginning to end which really keeps you in the game. Compared to baseball—where you can almost leave for two hours and come back and it’s still in the fourth inning—it’s like lightning. I really did enjoy it more than I thought I would.

I was rooting for the Sabres because I like when the underdog wins, but the Penguins ended up with a 2-0 victory so they’re off to the playoffs. Maybe next year, Buffalo.

Back in December before it got impossibly cold for two solid months, I shot some fog on a mild night. Now that spring has arrived, it’s has gone from pleasant to cold to snowy to warmish to rainy and back to cold again. Thursday night: fog. As of this writing, they’re calling for thunderstorms—I’ve heard some rumbling as I type—so we might be getting more variety still.

Anyhow, as the fog rolled in I went outside for a bit to grab a few shots. It was pleasantly mild out and I didn’t have anything else pressing to do so I walked down the street to Victoria Park to try and get something interesting. It’s fun to shoot fog, but it can also be frustrating because it’s difficult to focus, especially at night. It’s harder than it looks so more often than not I’m not happy with what I get. That sort of happened tonight. I was only out for about 20 minutes but I was still able to get a few that I was at least somewhat happy with.

Weather is wonderful.

My friends at Foto:RE are having an exhibition this April. The show was originally discussed in March’s meeting, but since I was here, I only heard about it when I returned home.

The theme of the show is “Resurrection”. We were free to interpret that in any way we wanted; I opted to show some construction photos of Kitchener’s Breithaupt Block. A few years ago I did some photos of the transformation, so I took more of a literal meaning with my photos. 

The show will be at the Waterloo Lutheran Seminary (at the corner of Albert and Bricker in Waterloo) from Monday, April 6 to Thursday, April 30. 

Check it out if you’ve got the time!