I Am Blogger

Posted 3:15 PM ET | Comments 1

A little blogging piece about yours truly for your Saturday afternoon.

My mother always told me that there would be days like these. Then again, she also told me to wear clean underwear, clean my room, finish my vegetables, remove the cat from the oven, and PLEASE don't run around the house with a live hand grenade. Very controlling woman, to say the least. But in the end, I came out alright. So, maybe she wasn't all bad.

My day is a Saturday morning coming off a work deadline. It has me peering at the ceiling wondering... "why, god, why am I up at 6:30 am??!?!?!" as my wife shouts in pain because our rambunctious kitten just decided to chomp on her face to get breakfast. She grabs the 'Cat Begone', which is a spray bottle of water, and shoots wildly, getting water on everyone and everything except the cat.

Sometimes I am just shell-shocked on a Saturday morning, especially ever since the summer. At the same time I started blogging for the Isles and here as the Isles blogger, we've been short-staffed at work. Nothing is worse than having a good assistant leave. And since he left, works been chaos. But maybe I should explain a bit on what I do for a living . . .

My day job is working in the wonderful world of publishing. But while others layout and design Vogue, Newsweek and Wired, I layout and design industrial equipment, motors and automation software. I work on the nasty underside of all those sexy glossy mags and books. Business-to-business. No frills. And no thrills. I deal with the muck and murk of creating magazine pages, web images and marketing pieces for an over 100 year old pub firm. And like a 100 year old man, it is a cranky, eccentric and petulant organization.

I actually head to work in the early hours, which is why, when you open your tired little eyes and peer at Hockeybuzz on a weekday, you will see a blog from me already up. That is my time to blog, read up, and research . . . if I haven't already the night before. Sometimes I actually start writing from my Blackberry on the LIRR trainride. In fact, many of my better blogs actually have flowed right as soon as I hit my seat on the train, where I email myself what I wrote, and give is a finishing polish when I get to work at 7:30am.

Sometimes, well, more often than just sometimes, I wish I could fully focus on my writing, hockey, blogging and my creative passions. But unfortunately, that doesn't quite pay the bills right now. Which is why I am sometimes run ragged, working long hours, doing two peoples work by day, blogging in the morning, and perhaps even the evening . . . as I then drive directly from the station to Nassau Coliseum to live blog at the games from the Blog Box. Sometimes I get home at 11pm, quickly writing a wrap-up and just find myself exhausted. Or just so numb and spent, I stare at the TV screen, a million miles away.

Sounds tiring, doesn't it?

And I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world. In the last year, I have made the conscious decision to write more. The results of this in just a short amount of time simply stuns me. I was published before. I had a few minutes of fame in a few differing avenues. But never a solid momentum where I was building a large amount of writing credits and bodies of work. I, from being a horribly inconsistent writer all my life with a few flashes of fame over the years, suddenly have a body of work trailing back to April. I write almost everyday now. And I am very thankful and appreciative to what Eklund has given me in being able to do what I do. There is nothing more helpful to a burgeoning writer than to have the fellow in charge enjoying my work.

In fact, I owe Garth, our great Buffalo blogger, a great thanks. When I wrote my 2nd blog piece on this website, he plugged it in his own blog. When I wrote two followups to it, Eklund was contacting me to write a satire series soon after. Then I had lots of support from my fellow bloggers here ever since. And we have a truly great array of blogging peers here who I will stack against any other site, hockey or not. From Eric Engels, to Scoop, to Daniel Tolensky, to Adam Kirshenblatt, to Garth, to Ek, to Bill & Brian Meltzer, to Al Cimaglia, to Brad Ratgen, Dan Spiegel, Jon Jordan, and so many others. Even the myhockeyblog bloggers are first-rate. Jsaquella, steal_your_faceoff, Flamester are just a few of the cream of the crop of why this site truly has great people top to bottom.

The holidays are a season to give thanks. And I am taking this moment and time on a Saturday to do just that to my fellow bloggers, Eklund, to the Isles brass who deal with me daily . . . especially Chris Botta and Corey Witt, the Isles team who makes this happen, to my fellow blog boxers who are classacts and tremendous writers and fans . . .

AND MOST OF ALL

. . . to you, who read me everyday, agreeing or not, who give me emails, or even come to visit me in the blog box. It is supremely appreciated and keeps me going.

Thank you.

This coming Xmas break and upcoming year is going to have some big things for your friendly neighborhood Isles blogger. I am doing a writing piece that might run in Cigar Aficionado or some other travel magazine. I will also be starting my first novel in 2008. And on the hockey blogging front, my Ranger blogger sibling and I will be working towards creating our Sibling Rivalry series on Talkcast. So you can listen to us talk about NY hockey, take calls, and make asses out of ourselves.

So, lets talk a little hockey, shall we? Tonight the Isles face Pittsburgh. As everyone might already know, Marc-Andre Fleury is out for 6 to 8 weeks. So Dany Sabourin should be in goal over Ty Conklin tonight. Pittsburgh has been in shaky straits all season, a big surprise to most. Obviously attaining Darryl Sydor as the lone defensive change was not enough or what the doctor ordered. In Steeltown, a coach is on the hotseat as they still have a potent offense. The Isles have split 1-1 versus them, and this rubbermatch is a key game.

The likely D pairing, per the NYI website is as follows:

Brendan Witt and Radek Martinek
Andy Sutton and Marc-Andre Bergeron
Chris Campoli and Bruno Gervais

This means Berard sits once again. But does he dress? Is this opportunity for MAB to finally get more time and momentum? Between Meyer, Berard and later-on, the return of Aaron Johnson, the Isles have a myriad of low-cost dmen. It might make MAB expendable, OR might give MAB time to seal the deal in terms of capturing on what he did so well last season. Produce, without being a liability. Something he is indeed capable of if he can clear his head.

Regular lines are as last game. Jackman is on line 4 with Simon and Park.

I will be at the game tonight, but not in the Blog Box until the very end of the game and then the lockerroom. My wife and I will be in section 302, enjoying the game.

- BD

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