Anyway, as usual, when the Blackhawks pull out a huge win like that, I feel like buying as much gear as possible. I recently received my Jonathan Toews jersey (yes, I finally pulled the trigger on that order) and now want to buy this Chicago Blackhawks Backpack next. It’s an officially licensed NHL product with the NHL shield on one of the shoulder straps. It also has an Indian head applique on the front and the crossed tomahawks over the “C” logo on the side water bottle pocket. The backpack is made of 840D nylon, which means it should be pretty durable. In short, this looks like a cool little pack for everyday use.

Buy.com has it for $29.99 with free shipping. I don’t know if that’s a sale price or not, but either way I think it’s a good deal. I use backpacks instead of a purse, so they have to be just the right size — which means neither too big nor too small. This one is 17″ x 13 1/34″, which is perfect! Can’t wait to get this… and GO HAWKS!!!

And that’s precisely what they did, coming back for a 3-0 shutout win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Granted, the Blue Jackets are cellar dwellers this year, but whatever. In hockey, you take momentum wherever you can get it. The Hawks now lead the league with 8 shutouts on the season, and remain in first place in the Western Conference.

Saturday marks the start of a very long road trip. Let’s hope the momentum carries through!

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

What I want to know is why there was no mention of the “Tea Party” protest from this past September 12?? Tens of thousands of protesters descended on the Capitol to protest the direction this country is heading in. This wasn’t just a march against health care, it also was a protest against higher taxes, government intervention in big business, the growing federal debt, etc.

I’ve seen pictures of the event, and it looks like it was a major gathering. But I didn’t see a single article about it on Yahoo at all during the weekend. In fact, I actually found out about the protests on the Daily Mail site — a UK newspaper! Why is that??

Anyway, the Daily Mail says “up to 2 million” people converged on the Capitol, but further research showed that no one can quite agree on how many were there. I’ve seen low estimates at around 30,000 as well, so who can tell.

By the time I finish that stuff, I’m sure I’ll be ready to crash for a two- or three-hour nap! Still, I have to stay focused today because I’ve got plans for the weekend and won’t be around to finish this stuff up. I have to get it done by tomorrow night.

We need a couple of small items for the house, including a new hammer and miscellaneous hardware to repair some broken kitchen cabinet handles, so maybe we’ll go check out the new store this weekend. The prices look comparable to other places, so why not give the new guy a fair chance!

Now, nearly three years later, I think we’re finally ready to take the plunge. The price has indeed come down a bit, with the PlayStation 3 80GB model costing less than a 60GB unit did a little while ago. But what’s even more important to Jerry these days is that the PS3 game library is significantly larger than it was three years ago. The worst scenario for a gamer would be to plunk down a lot of cash for a great system only to be stuck playing the same two titles over and over again because there’s nothing else available. But it looks like this won’t be an issue anymore.

So after doing some shopping, I found the 80GB PS3 on Sale at Buy.com for $398.99. That’s as good of a price as we’re going to get for a brand-new console, so we might as well go for it. As added incentive, Buy.com offers free shipping on this product and we can even get another $30 off the total price just by applying for a Buy.com Visa card. I’ve seen that credit card offer before, but never took advantage of it. This might be the perfect time to do it, though!

Usually, I’d balk at spending this much money on a non-essential item, but I know that Jerry will use the PS3 almost every single day, so it’s not like this thing will just collect dust in the corner of the living room. And as long as we get our money’s worth, I’m ok with the purchase!