Buffalo to Seattle: Day Seven

There’s not a whole lot to report today, and not a whole lot of pictures, either. Winnipeg is a perfectly decent city, but it’s urban and generic and not very picturesque. Compare to: Tacoma, San Jose, Riverside. But hey, it was still a good day, with some good work, good news, and good fun. And my first minor league hockey game!

I got out and wandered around some in the morning, got some good work done on an upcoming project, and then, when I least expected it, I got a message that the oil cooler for the H1 had arrived in country and was on its way to Dauphin. Woohoo! I had been expecting shipping delays, customs problems, and all that, but so far things look good. It remains to be seen if they shipped the right part, of course.

So after that bit of good news, I headed to The Keg for dinner, and the server mentioned in passing that there was a hockey game tonight. The Manitoba Meese versus the cheesily named Rochester Americans. Hey, I had been planning on seeing a movie, but I can do that anywhere. Where else am I going to see minor league hockey? After dinner I walked to the arena and picked up a great seat for $30.

And wow, was it fun. The arena was only about 1/3 full, but the crowd was into it, and c’mon — the Meese mascot is “Mick E Moose.” How cool is that? I was hoping to get a picture with him, but he never came down the aisle I was sitting near. Oh well. At least I have a new favorite minor league hockey team. The Meese won 7-1, and it wasn’t really that close.

At the first intermission, they had two kids’ teams play. I’m not entirely into halftime shows with kids, but wow was that funny. For starters, they were mostly too young to skate without falling over all the time. And they just let all of the players on both teams on the ice at once, so there must have been 30 kids chasing the puck around at a time. Finally, my favorite part: both teams were wearing almost identical colors. It was pure chaos and mayhem. One team won 5-0, but since they looked nearly identical, I don’t think anyone on the teams or in the audience has any idea which team. That’s my kind of anarchy.

Anyways, tomorrow it’s up early and back to Dauphin, about a 150 mile drive. I had been expecting to personally drive the oil cooler up, since it came into Winnipeg, but it turns out it was easier for them to put it on a bus (hopefully to the right destination). So it should be there when the service department opens at 7:30am tomorrow, and in theory I can be on the road around lunch time. Hooray!