Go on Hurricanes!

A lazy morning today. We all went to an "all you can eat" buffet grill today just up Highway 1 where the children were absolutely amazed at the choice of food available as well as the limitless sodas on tap. We spent a pleasant couple of hours having a combined breakfast and lunch meal. I particularly enjoyed the Mongolian beef and Asian beans on offer as well as more fried shrimp. The girls went off to do more shopping whilst we lads went back home. I spent an hour or so with Tom setting up my new netbook and then had a short nap whilst Tom had a play on the new computer. Tonight, David, Tom and I went to the Carolina Hurricanes v. New York Islanders national ice hockey match. What a great experience. We started by standing for the American national anthem and were then treated to a display of fast thuggery on the ice pitch. There seemed to be few rules and all of one team was substituted within the first thirty seconds. The game is divided into three periods of 20 minutes each but in reality, with stoppages, each period actually lasts nearer 40 minutes with two breaks of 20 minutes for hot dogs, pretzels, nachos, beers and popcorn. Within two minutes, helmets were off and two of the opposing team members were fighting with fists! This produced a two minute sin bin" penalty. I really cannot begin to understand the rules (assuming there are any) but it was a great entertainment and the final result was 7-2 to the Canes.