New Design Complete

As you can see, I have the new layout up. I'm not going to say too much about the layout as you can read all about it under Projects -> Web Design.

However, I'm proud of this layout. I never really realized how easy building a site like this could be. All I needed was a couple of programs and here we are. For once, there was very little scripting of my own done.

One last note, HIT THE MESSAGE BOARDS UP AND CHAT!!!! Thank you.

B.E.Z.

Changes Coming

I got to thinking about this page over the last couple of days. For those of you that have been visiting this page over the last couple of years, you might remember that this page used to be "Skoo's Web Jawn". Well, I thought about that idea a little bit, got creative with it and decided to bring it back.

I came into my Web Design class today with this idea and started playing around in Photoshop and came up with the banner you see above. Next thing you know, I'm being asked to make a webpage from Photoshop and I figured that if I'm going to do something like this, I'm going to put it to use. Also, I'm already working with the banner at the time, why not make my new layout now? So, I am and it can possibly be done by Friday or at least by Monday.

One of the major changes I'll be doing is going back to a splash page (basically an intro page) with a pop-up window for the main content.

Another thing I'm thinking about doing is moving over to Movable Type for my blogging service. In saying that, if it's possible I'd like to have more people posting on here to supply something of a "guest column" format to the page. Just sounds like a fun idea.

Looking good

Came to the time where my Web Design class takes a 15 minute break and switches rooms. At that time, my instructor wanted to pull me to the side. I'm like "ok, what's up?" Turns out that he feels I'm way ahead of what the class is teaching (which I agree) and that h just hopes that I don't get bored. So, in other words, I'm practically teeing off on this class.

So, just so y'all know what's up, I left a screen shot of what I've done so far above this post.

Anyway, that's it. B.E.Z.

Hockey's Back!!!

The National Hockey League's Board of Governors has ratified the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiated with the NHL Players' Association, ending a 310-day work stoppage, signaling a new era of cooperation and partnership, and ensuring the League will resume play for the 2005-06 season.

The six-year agreement, scheduled to run through September 15, 2011, may be reopened by the Players' Association following Year Four (2008-09). The Players' Association also has the option to extend the agreement for one year at the end of the scheduled term.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement includes a completely revamped economic system under which, during the first year, total player costs of the 30 NHL Clubs will not exceed 54% of League-wide revenue. The calibration of the percentage in future years of the Agreement will be linked to a percentage of League-wide revenue, and could rise to 57% if League-wide revenue exceeds $2.7 billion.

No Club payroll for the 2005-06 season will be less than $21.5 million and no payroll will exceed $39 million - including all salaries, signing bonuses and performance bonuses. Each individual player contract currently in existence will include a 24% reduction of NHL salary for every year of its term, and no individual player salary can exceed 20% of a Club's Upper Limit on payroll.

The economic system also includes provisions for enhanced revenue sharing.

Accounting of League-wide revenue will be monitored jointly by the NHL and NHLPA. In addition, the League and Players' Association have agreed to create several joint committees that will work together toward the advancement of the game in a variety of areas, including competition, broadcasting and marketing.

The new Agreement also creates, for the first time, a joint program dealing with the use of Performance-Enhancing Substances. Per the agreement, every NHL player will be subject to up to two "no notice" tests per year. The first positive test for performance-enhancing substances will result in a mandatory 20-game suspension without pay to the player. A second positive test would result in a 60-game suspension, and a third would result in permanent suspension; however, such a player would be eligible to apply for reinstatement after two years.

Other elements of the agreement:

COMPLIANCE BUYOUTS - Clubs may buy out player contracts at no charge toward the Club's Upper Limit from July 23, 2005 to July 29, 2005 at 5 p.m., ET. A player who is bought out may not rejoin his old club during the 2005-06 season.

CONTRACTS FOR 2004-05 - Contracts for the 2004-05 season have been eliminated.

ENHANCED REVENUE SHARING - Enhanced revenue sharing will see clubs eligible for subsidies if they rank in the bottom half of League revenues and operate in markets of 2.5 million TV households or fewer.

ENTRY DRAFT - The Entry Draft has been reduced to seven rounds from nine, beginning with 2005.

ENTRY-LEVEL SALARY - The entry-level salary limit is $850,000 for 2005 and 2006 draftees and reaches a high of $925,000 for 2011 draftees. Entry-level performance bonus categories and thresholds have been revised.

MINIMUM SALARY - The minimum salary has been increased from $185,000 under the previous agreement to $450,000 in 2005-06. It will rise to $500,000 in the final two years of the agreement.

OLYMPICS - NHL players will participate in the Olympic Winter Games in 2006 (Turin, Italy) and 2010 (Vancouver); no All-Star Game will be played in Olympic years.

RENEGOTIATION - Player contracts will not be re-negotiated, upward or downward, during their term.

SIGNING DEADLINE - Restricted free agents who do not sign contracts by December 1 of a given year will be ineligible to play in the League for the balance of that season.

TRADE DEADLINE - The trade deadline will be moved from the 26th day to the 40th day prior to the conclusion of the regular season. Presuming an April 18 conclusion to the 2005-06 regular season, the trading deadline would occur March 10.

TWO-WAY ARBITRATION - Eligibility rules for Player Salary Arbitration have been modified and Clubs will now have the ability to elect Salary Arbitration for eligible Players.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENCY - The age of unrestricted free agency remains 31 (with four accrued seasons of 40 or more games on an NHL Club's roster) for 2005-06. It will drop to 29 (with four accrued seasons) or eight accrued seasons - regardless of age - in 2006-07. The following season, the age drops to 28 (with four accrued seasons) or seven accrued seasons, and falls to 27 (with four accrued seasons) or seven accrued seasons in 2008-09.

WAIVER DRAFT - The Waiver Draft has been eliminated.

Story from coloradoavalanche.com

Oppose John Roberts

Respect to CHASE SwAyZe for posting this on the okayplayer.com boards:

In the past weeks, Republicans and Democrats have called on President Bush to nominate a moderate for the Supreme Court - someone who would honor the legacy of independent Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. But last night, President Bush nominated Judge John Roberts, a far-right lawyer and corporate lobbyist, to fill her post on the Supreme Court.

We've got to stop Roberts. He opposed clean air rules and worked to help coal companies strip-mine mountaintops. He worked with Ken Starr (yes, that Ken Starr), and tried to keep Congress from defending the Voting Rights Act. He wrote that Roe v. Wade should be "overruled," and as a lawyer argued (and won) the case that stopped some doctors from even discussing abortion.

Join our urgent petition to let our senators know we expect them to oppose John Roberts right now here

This is one of the most important domestic fights of President Bush's career. We can win - Americans overwhelmingly want a moderate judge. But to win, we need to get the word out early that Roberts is out of the mainstream.

After you've signed, please send this message on to your friends and colleagues. We need to fight back against the misinformation that the Bush administration is putting out.

John Roberts has little experience as a judge - he was only appointed in 2003. But he's got a lot of experience as a corporate lobbyist and lawyer, consistently favoring wealthy corporations over regular Americans.

Here's a list of some of the things that make Roberts the wrong pick for the Supreme Court:
Wrong on environmental protection: Roberts appears to want to limit the scope of the Endangered Species Act, and in papers he wrote while in law school he supported far-right legal theories about "takings" which would make it almost impossible for the government to enforce most environmental legislation.

Wrong on civil rights: Roberts worked to keep Congress from defending parts of the Voting Rights Act.

Wrong on human rights: As a appeals court judge, Roberts ruled that the Geneva Convention doesn't apply to some prisoners of war.

Wrong on our right to religious freedom: Roberts argued that schools should be able to impose religious speech on attendees.

Wrong on women's rights: Roberts wrote that "Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be overruled." He also weighed in on behalf of Operation Rescue, a violent anti-abortion group, in a federal case.

President Bush could have chosen many fair-minded and independent jurists to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. Instead, he chose a corporate partisan loved by Bush's right-wing base but out of step with the rest of the country.

Tell your senators they need to stop John Roberts now here