Carolina Hurricanes: 2006 Avco Cup Champions

With their victory in game seven of the Stanley Cup finals last night, the Carolina Hurricanes became the second team to win the top prizes in both the long-defunct WHA and the NHL (Quebec/Colorado was the first). This is assuming that you include the storied history of New England/Hartford Whalers in the Hurricane's lineage, of course. This was the first Stanley Cup final that pitted two former WHA teams against each other. The WHA has a pretty impressive history in the NHL. Since the four surviving teams joined the NHL in 1979, all but Winnipeg (now Phoenix) has won a Stanley Cup. Hartford (now Carolina) has one, Quebec (now Colorado) has two, and Edmonton has five. The ex-WHA teams have combined for 11 appearances in the Stanley Cup finals since 1980. Not bad for a league that could barely pay the rent at its arenas and distinguished itself with garish (even by 1970s standards) uniforms. Finally, this marks the third consecutive Stanley Cup final in which the team that lost eliminated the Detroit Red Wings from the playoffs in an earlier round (Anaheim in 2003, Calgary in 2004, and Edmonton in 2006).

Save Screech's House

Pity poor Dustin Diamond. Not only will he never be known as anything more than that guy who played Screech on "Saved By the Bell", he's also about to lose his home. In an effort to keep his house, if not his reputation, he's launched a campaign to get back at the shady financier who abandoned him in his time of need and raise enough money to keep a roof over his head by selling t-shirts online.

Mt. Tom Trail

We went hiking out in the Arcadia Management Area this past weekend. I'm writing this post mostly to document how we got there, since finding these kinds of hiking trails is generally more difficult than the actual hike. I'd like to do this hike again in the fall, since it offers some decent views. The trail takes you up to the top of Mt. Tom, which isn't much of a mountain, and back down to the road (RI-165). We turned around and came back the same way at that point, but there were some more trails north of 165 that we could have explored.

• Exit I-95 onto RI-102S


• Right onto RI-3 S (Nooseneck Hill Rd.)


• Right onto RI-165 (Ten Rod Rd.)


• Pass Arcadia Management Area main entrance


• Pass a white church on right


• Take the next left onto Mt. Tom Rd.


• Travel less than a mile down Mt. Tom Rd and park at small clearing on the left side of the road before small bridge over stream


• Mt. Tom trail starts on the other side of the road

Summer Reading

I just finished reading Little Children (in record time) and I recommend it to anyone looking for a good summer read. I love the idea of summer reading, but I've rarely gone out of my way to read during the summer, and most of the reading that I've done during the summer has been no different from what I would have read during any other season. Little Children has been on my to read list for a while, so it was somewhat coincidental that I started reading it on the beach over Memorial Day weekend, but it turned out to be a perfect fit. It's the second book I've read by Tom Perotta. I've also read The Wishbones, which I also enjoyed, but I didn't find the story, characters, or writing as compelling as Little Children.

As for summer movie recommendations, I've been on something of a 1980s New York movie kick as of late. I've watched Wall Street; Bright Lights, Big City; Party Monster and most recently, The Bonfire of the Vanities. I enjoyed all of the aforementioned movies, with the exception of Party Monster, but I really liked The Bonfire of the Vanities. I understand that it got some pretty awful reviews back in the day, but I think it's a really great movie if you're into ridiculous melodrama and overacting. I've never read the book so I don't know if the movie does it any justice. I can understand why the movie didn't get great reviews, but I found it really enjoyable.