Happy Hanukkah 2016

Hanukkah begins on Saturday evening, so if you're doing some last minute shopping for latkes (potato pancakes) or donuts, don't forget to buy pickles too. Seriously, I'd love for my legacy to be helping pickles become part of the Hanukkah tradition. You can click here to see how the tradition of eating pickles on Hanukkah started way back in 1998 in San Diego. Please help make this happen!

Let's check out some videos to celebrate the Festival of Lights:

The Maccabeats are back with a Hamilton-themed song.



Meanwhile, Six13's Hanukkah song this year also has a Hamilton theme. The feud between these two groups must be at an all-time high!



Shir Soul Singers want into this a cappella mix and look to differentiate themselves from the others via face painting.



I honestly don't know what this is.



Tex-Mex Latkes? I'm not sold, but I'd be willing to try this if someone wants to make them and bring them over.



This guy wants you to celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas together.



And this woman came up with a name to celebrate the holidays together, Chrismukkah.



Apparently, this family listened to the last two videos and is celebrating the two holidays together. Welcome to the show! (Enjoy the WWE action around the 1:20 mark.)



And finally, a Happy Hanukkah from Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.



One more finally. This is a Happy Hanukkah from Ottawa.



Happy Hanukkah to those who are celebrating!

Everybody Loves Ottawa

I started a trend. It happens quite often but I didn’t expect this trend to occur north of the border. As part of last month’s hockey road trip, we visited Ottawa to see the Senators-Canadiens game and also toured the Parliament building. Nearly one month later, it appears that Ottawa is the place to be. Last week, Barack Obama made his first international trip as President to visit Canada’s capital and meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Here’s a picture if you don’t believe me:



Now two international superstars (me and President Obama, of course) visiting Ottawa does not make a trend. That’s where the Ottawa Senators come in. I already shared the eight-second video of Carrie Underwood attending a Sens game to watch her boyfriend Mike Fisher. Then last Friday, Ottawa acquired Mike Comrie in a trade with the New York Islanders. You may know Mike Comrie as the boyfriend of one Hilary Duff.



It seems to me that Ottawa is now THE place to be seen. Now we’ll just have to see if Duff, Underwood or Obama take a picture with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Safety Bear.



It’s tough being a trend-setter sometimes!


Voting in the Elite Eight round of the Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament continues through 8:00pm tonight in the post below.

Canadian Road Trip

Let’s say that you are taking a road trip to Canada with stops in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Where would you go in each of these cities? The reason for this post is because I am taking a road trip to Canada with stops in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. What a coincidence!

I attended a wedding in Montreal almost 10 years ago, but don’t remember much about the city besides taking a river cruise and visiting the William Shatner Center at McGill University. I’ve never been to Ottawa, and figure that since I’m there, maybe I can be Prime Minister for the day. Toronto is one of my favorite places, and I plan on visiting the Hockey Hall of Fame on this trip since I’ve never been there before.

I’m heading to these cities as part of my third annual hockey road trip and will be attending NHL games in each place. Besides the hockey games, I’m looking for suggestions of things to do. Therefore, please feel free to add any suggestions about things to do and see in the comments section below. In addition, I’m also looking for ideas about places to eat/drink in each city, preferably near the arenas.

Thank you!