The
first month of the New Year personally, for this writer, I have attended two weddings
and a funeral service. Two were celebrations for the future, while one was a
celebration of the past – all three have a central theme for me.
Community: With social media, politics, social issues today pushing us to
individuality and division, the three events mentioned above, refreshingly were
all about community, love, and respect. The celebration of families and their
friends for what the future will bring and what the past has produced was truly
remarkable for this writer.
Yes,
the music played by DJ’s or bands at weddings these days is not my preference. Yes,
this writer cannot dance. Yes, I believe fried donuts should be on the dessert
menu for every wedding. Yes, the many
ways we celebrate these events is varied and sometimes confusing.
But
the sense of community among all the attendees towards the bridal couples and
the departed was truly remarkable and inspiring. I only wish we all could take
this energy and apply it to each day and application in our daily lives.
Perhaps many of us do and our leaders do not. Let’s hope they can figure this
all out, soon.
WINTER
CAME - If you're 25 or younger and live within a large swath of the
Midwest — from Minneapolis to Chicago — this week will feature the coldest
temperatures of your life. Today, we return to a distant age (that ended about
27 months ago) when the news topic that most obsessed human beings was weather.
In short, it's cold. Temperatures are already so low that boiling water is
freezing instantly, and weatherworn, childish, global warming hot takes have
been frozen in time. Those hoping to melt their misery in the warm embrace of
sympathetic friends and family in warmer climes are instead getting the cold
shoulder because nearly everyone else is cold too. "By the end of Wednesday,
85 percent of U.S. land area and 230 million Americans will experience
temperatures of 32 degrees or colder." Around eighty million Americans are
expected to feel below zero temperatures. Here's the latest on the polar
vortex.
+ Fargo, North Dakota, for example, is expected to hit an
overnight low of minus 33 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday. At that temperature,
vodka freezes solid: The Midwest is facing record-breaking cold. Blame the
polar vortex.
+ How cold? Colder than Mars.
+ How frigid polar vortex blasts are connected to global warming.
+ The continental United States is 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer
than it was a century ago. Seas at the coasts are nine inches higher. The
damage is mounting from these fundamental changes, and Americans are living it.
COLLEGE
CHRONICLES - As colleges face increasing pressure to support the needs of
students from diverse backgrounds, more search committees are asking job
candidates to submit diversity statements alongside their other application
materials. Some say the statements are a way to ensure that professors get
credit for often-invisible labor, like mentoring underrepresented students.
Others caution that the statements could become political litmus tests.
+
As a result of pressure from students and professors, Middlebury College
announced that it will divest its endowment from fossil fuels.
POTUS - The quiet
White House... The President has nothing on his schedule today (Wednesday)
besides his intelligence briefing. So far this week, the president has just had
lunch with the VP on his schedule. Nothing else.
BIRTHDAYS
THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Dick Cheney (78), Kimberly
Grant …famous Alumni Director, Wayne Gretzky (58), Oprah Winfrey (65).
SUPER
BOWL SNACKS - Buffalo-Style Chicken Fingers
Add to your game-day buffet with this neat-to-eat chicken breast
variation of chicken wings. Dunk them in bottled blue cheese dressing.
Makes: 12 servings - Prep 25 mins - Bake 18 mins
Love wings but not the mess of preparing and cooking them?
Substitute this neat-to-eat chicken breast version, which can be made ahead,
frozen, and reheated.
Ingredients
1 cup crushed corn flakes
1 tablespoon finely snipped parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/3 cup bottled blue cheese salad dressing
2 teaspoons water
1 -2 teaspoons bottled hot pepper sauce
Celery sticks
Bottled blue cheese salad dressing
Directions
Combine crushed corn flakes, parsley, and salt in a shallow bowl
or pie plate. Cut chicken breasts into strips about 3/4 inch wide and 3 inches
long. Combine the 1/3 cup dressing, water, and hot pepper sauce in a large
mixing bowl. Add chicken; stir to coat. Roll chicken pieces individually in
crumb mixture to coat. Place strips on a foil-lined baking sheet. Freeze until
firm, about 2 hours.
To serve, heat oven to 425 degree F. Place frozen chicken strips
in a single layer in a lightly greased 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Bake for 18 to
20 minutes or until meat is no longer pink in center and crumbs are golden.
Serve warm with celery sticks and additional blue cheese dressing for dipping.
Makes 12 servings.
Make ahead tip
Make Ahead Tip Place frozen strips in a freezer container. Cover
and freeze up to 1 month.
Of course wash them down with our favorite beer: Rolling Rock.
TAX
SEASON - This week marks the official opening of the tax season. While it's
likely not a time that many of us look forward to, it is an essential part of
performing our tax citizenship compliance responsibility. Outside groups
dealing with the IRS say they've had no issues interacting with the agency on
filing season, but there are bigger tests still to come.
FINANCE
STAT OF THE WEEK – Best performing currencies for the last six months:
MARKET
WEEK - Say goodbye to January with a Fed meeting, Tesla earnings, trade
talks, a jobs rep—actually...we'll just let you read the darn thing.
Monday: Earnings (Caterpillar, Whirlpool)
Tuesday: Fed meeting begins; consumer confidence; earnings
(Verizon, Apple, Lockheed Martin, 3M, Pfizer, Allergan, eBay, AMD,
Harley-Davidson)
Wednesday: Fed announcement; U.S.-China trade talks; GDP;
earnings (Alibaba, Boeing, AT&T, Facebook, Tesla, Microsoft, PayPal,
McDonald's, Qualcomm, ADP)
Thursday: Motor vehicle sales; earnings (Amazon, GE, UPS,
Altria, Raytheon, The Blackstone Group, Mastercard)
Friday: Jobs report; earnings (Chevron, Cigna, Merck,
Honeywell, ExxonMobil, Sony)
16 days until the next government shutdown.
+
Apple's iPhone troubles persist. The technology giant posted its first
holiday-quarter decline in revenue and profit in over a decade as iPhone sales
fell 15% in the quarter, warning the slowdown in its core business and weakness
in China has spilled into the latest period.
Apple's
supporting cast can't carry the show. Despite having a great holiday quarter
with strong sales in iPads, Macs and wearables, none of that kept the company’s
overall revenue from falling 4.5% year over year to $84.3 billion.
STOCKS
TO WATCH -
eBay:
Shares of the e-commerce company have posted gains for five consecutive weeks,
the longest such stretch since August 2016.
Arconic: The company's stock is up 10% in January, on course
for its best month since July 2018. Last week, the aluminum-parts manufacturer
scuttled a deal to sell itself to private-equity firm Apollo Global Management.
McCormick: Shares of the spice maker dropped 13% last week,
their largest weekly percentage drop since January 1993, after the company said
that it expects weaker sales growth this year.
IBM: The company's stock climbed 8.2% last week, its
largest weekly percentage rise since October 2017. Shares have gained 18% in
January, on pace for their best month since October 2002.
SUPER
BOWL 53 - Best video: I
stumbled upon this incredibly detailed explanation of how Mercedes-Benz
Stadium works, and it honestly blew my mind. I need this guy to explain more
things to me.
Best food review: SB
Nation's James Dator ate and ranked every food item that will be at
available during the game. The "Closed on Sunday" sounds unreal:
"Take everything you love about a Chick-Fil-A sandwich and make every
element perfect. The chicken is juicier, the pickle is crispier, the bun is a
higher quality."
Best gift: Brandin Cooks surprised the
Rams' custodian with a pair of Super Bowl tickets. Doesn't get better.
+ Super Bowl Advertising: The average rate for a 30-second Super
Bowl in-game ad increased by nearly 100% over the past decade, reaching a
whopping $5.24 million in 2018, according to data from Kantar Media, a
subsidiary of WPP.
The big picture: It's one of the most lucrative advertising
opportunities in the America, next to the Olympics. Per the report, while the
Super Bowl typically draws more total ad revenue than the World Series or the
NBA finals, all three are dwarfed by the Olympics.
Yes, but: A new report from Bloomberg suggests that that rate has
stopped growing this year.
While neither Kantar nor CBS, the broadcast network
hosting Super Bowl LIII, have
yet released figures about 2019 ad spending, sources tell
Bloomberg that CBS is selling in-game spots for an average of $5.1 million to
$5.3 million, not far off from where it was last year.
NHL
MID SEASON TOP/BOTTOM FIVE –
1). Tampa Bay Lightning, 2).
Calgary Flames, 3). Nashville Predators,
4). New York Islanders, 5)
San Jose Sharks
31). Ottawa Senators, 30).
Detroit Red Wings, 29). Los Angeles Kings,
28). Chicago Blackhawks,
27). New Jersey Devils
TELL
IT LIKE IT IS – Some readers will not like this, but now is the time to
tell it like it is. St. Lawrence University Men’s Hockey is a disaster. With a 3-20-1 record
and firmly in last place in the ECAC it is time to assess the team and it’s
future.
Yes, in today’s environment of college hockey, like basketball and
other sports, quality players attend for two years and then move to the
professional ranks. Yes, the number of competitive teams and conferences is
making it difficult to recruit top players. Yes, we are limited by resources.
But so are many of our competing programs.
I watch the Instagram posts of our student athletes hopping around
and playing soccer in pregame rituals. I hear podcasts and social media posts
daily. How about working on putting the puck in the net? To quote the great
Stan Mikita: “Keep your stick on the ice and skate like hell.” “It is a simple
case of color blindness, pass the puck to your teammate,” to quote Howie
Meeker.
Is the leadership of our hockey program providing the essentials
for a successful program?
Enough said.
SWAMI’S WEEK
TOP PICKS
–
NFL Football Picks of the Week – Sunday 2/3 3:00 PM (PT) CBS; New England
Patriots (13-5) vs. Los Angeles Rams (15-3). Team Brady/Belichick vs. Team
Goff/McVay, who is better prepared and can execute. Rams win 30 – 28. Vegas has the Pats giving 2.5
points, over/under is 56.5 points. (Season
to date 15-10)
SCIAC Game of the Week – Saturday 2/2 5:00 PM PT; Women’s
Basketball - University of La Verne Leopards (10-9) at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
Republicans (18-2). The Republicans have won fourteen straight, La Verne is fighting
for a conference playoff position, a huge game. La Verne in an upset, 72 – 68. (Season to date 4-4)
NHL Game of the Week – Saturday 2/2 7:00 PM PT CBC; Pittsburgh
Penguins (26-17-6) vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (30-17-2), Penguins are struggling
time for Sydney Crosby to take over, upset the Leafs 3 – 2. (Season to date 8-2)
College Hockey Game of the Week – Saturday 2/2 8:00 PM ET; #11 Notre Dame
University Fighting Irish(14-8-3) at #4 Ohio State University Criminals
(15-5-4). Criminals will win this one in Columbus 5 – 3. Season to Date (4-2).
2019 Season
to Date (2 - 2)
ON THIS DATE
- Today marks
172 years since San Francisco took its current name, after the original
settlement was named for a native plant, the yerba buena (Spanish for
"good herb").
Not
sure about yerba buena, but we do appreciate la buena información.
Next Blog: February 11 - Jack Ass of the Month, Words of the Month, the usual.
Until
next time, Adios
Claremont,
California
January
30, 2019
#IX-18-386
CARTOON OF
THE WEEK – Charles
Shultz
RINK RATS
POLL –
Your
favorite Super Bowl Party Snack
_____ Sliders
_____ Nachos
_____ Pizza
_____ Chili
_____ Chicken Wings
QUOTE OF THE
MONTH
– “Talent sets the floor, Character sets
the ceiling." - Bill
Belichick
Rink Rats is a blog
of weekly observations, predictions and commentary. We welcome your comments
and questions. Also participate in our monthly poll. Rink Rats is now viewed in
Europe, Canada, South America and the United States.
Posted at Rink Rats The Blog: First Published – May 3, 2010
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