After work today, I'm going over to Katie's and we're going to head to the AAC for the matchup tonight between the Dallas Mavericks and the Utah Jazz. It's a big one; I'm excited! Plus, we're going to get there early and hang out at Jack's Old No. 7 which is always fun. One can typically spot Ben and Skin from The Ticket there.

I have to be at work extra, extra early tomorrow morning, however. We're having a "Parking Lot Sale" behind the store on Main Street, Grapevine to get rid of some of the ancillary stuff we've had lying in and around the store for the last few years: furniture, nick-nacks and, of course, beads. They're making use of the few of us guys here at the office to do the heavy lifting. The normally proud and strong women around here get all of a sudden gun-shy when something physical has to get done around here! Not really - I jest. I think a few of them are meeting us there in the morning (7:30AM - that hurts me!) to haul everything out into the lot.

Anyone interested should definitely stop by tomorrow or Saturday!

If you're a hockey fan, this is just about the best time of year - better than any holiday, really. Basketball fans have their Christmas all over again in March, baseball fans pray all year their teams still plays meaningful games in September and those golf fanatics won't shut up all year long... For fans of the cold, here is where the fun really begins.

Being a Dallas Stars fan has been quite the mercurial place to be this season. Just two months ago, we were the toast of the league with visions of actually catching those streaking Red Wings dancing through our heads. Then March hit, and all of a sudden we couldn't buy a point. The Stars lost eight out of nine games outright at one point and dropped in the standings from second to now fifth in the Western Conference.

Now, with just three games remained, I personally am at a crossroads with what I'd like to see happen with this team. You never root for your team to lose, but as I gaze at the standings, it seems to me almost better if they could drop one more seed in the playoffs standings rather than remain in the fifth spot. As it stands, the Stars would be playing without home ice against the Anaheim Ducks - a team that has had a remarkably similar season to the Stars. Playing them would be a battle they could certainly win, but even if they did, it would almost certainly come down to a seven-game series that would leave the Dallas ice club worn and battered in the second round against, almost assuredly, the Detroit Red Wings.

On the other hand, if they were to somehow drop a point in the final couple of games to either Colorado or Calgary (but not to both!), they would all of a sudden be playing the Minnesota Wild, their sister team, in a sense. The Wild are only in the third seed by virtue of being atop the worst division in the West, which gives them an automatic bid into the top three seeds. A Stars win tonight, in fact, and they'd have a head-to-head edge over Minnesota standings-wise. This is a team they can beat - and it wouldn't necessarily take more than four games to do it, either.

Either way, the Stars have lost out in the first round for four years running. They certainly have something to prove and there are no excuses lingering for them concerning playing a tough team. They're all tough at this point, boys. Whether we stay put or move down, I can't wait to see what happens.

Happy Holidays!