EvolvingWild album of the week #69 Kraftwerk - Computer World (1981) Our uncle found this vinyl at an estate sale and gave it to us for our birthday. I had never heard it before, and now I listen to it regularly. It’s incredibly ahead of its time and my favorite Kraftwerk album.

I finished Truman Capote's "Other Voices, Other Rooms" last night, and while the book was great, all I've been thinking about after I read more about its background is the photo of him that appeared on the back of the original dustjacket in 1948

Spent a bit of my afternoon watching the little critters visiting our Ironweeds (Vernonia - still can't figure out the exact species). We've even got some skippers showing up!

For our birthday, Luke and I finally finished this 1500 piece Ravensburger puzzle that we’ve been working on since last summer while spending time at our parent’s cabin. We’re, somehow, missing two pieces. 😢 😭 😔

EvolvingWild album of the week #68 Frank Sinatra - September of My Years It’s been a bit. My favorite Sinatra record. This $3 version version is played to shit, but I think it lends to the album. A pristine copy would also lend to it. 10/10.

I saw another cool wasp on this plant today! Some type of thread-waisted wasp. They’re very cool little creatures.

I’m not exactly sure what #WildflowerHour is or when it happens, but here’s some pictures of a Great Black Wasp visiting Spotted Horsemint (Monarda punctata) flowers.

Leo Carlsson is good (and still very young), but I can’t think of any contract that is even close to this. Our poor baby contract projection model. Look what they’re doing to it!

Carlson was, by all accounts, the actual "best" UFA still available after day 1. Given that he's 36, that's an odd thing to type, but that really is the market. At 2 years, $8.5 is higher than we projected, but I suppose that's just the current going rate. He's still an offensive house, somehow.

Late night Chester

We had Ryan Shea as one of the better value adds among UFAs this free agency. We had him at $4.6M on a 5 year deal (signed with Edmonton for $4M x 5 years). This is one of the better UFA defensemen contracts we've seen so far this free agency imo.

Anders Lee might be the best remaining UFA out there (keep in mind the FA class, though). He'll be 36 in a few days, so there's obviously the age caveat, but even into his mid-30s he's been quite serviceable for the Islanders. Somewhere in the 2-5 year range at $5-6M is what the model projects.

I completely forgot that Boone Jenner (signed with Washington for 4 x $5.75M) was still in the league let alone a free agent. The model didn't though. We projected a shorter term, but at 4 years his new contract is was pretty much spot on. I don't have much to say about him though sorry.

Nick Paul is the epitome of a guy in the NHL. He's got two very common first names, he's been ~okay at hockey, and he makes $3.15M.

Now this is what I'm talking about. A player who's never been a positive offensive player in his career but absolutely made sure nothing was going on for the other team either all while somehow doing it with the '25-26 Sharks?

Oliver Bjorkstrand was one of our guys when he was with the Blue Jackets. His first year in Seattle wasn't exactly great, he rebounded the next two years, and then had a rough 25-26. We had Bjorkstrand at $3.5M on a 1-year deal (signed 1 x $4.5M), but this could be a solid add for the Rangers.

On the flip side, Zuccarello signing for $1m x 1 year is a steal of a contract for LA. I mean, he's old, but he was one of the best value adds by our model. We projected a 1 year deal at $4.35M... No idea why other teams weren't interested (or the Wild didn't want Zuccarello on that contract)

$8.25M is a large overpay per our projections to begin with (we projected ~$6.7M for a 4 year deal). Over the last three seasons, Trouba's averaged -3.25 xGAR per our model. And he's been pretty consistent about it too. There's very little to like about this.

Everyone, obviously, loves Chester, so here's a pic of him being awoken from a snooze. The owner and her mom don't really know, but he's probably at least 15 years old (potentially older) and in perfect health per his last vet checkup a week ago. He is going to live forever in my opinion.

Oh, we forgot to share - we’re watching Chester! Say hi to Chester!

Sorry, should’ve just posted a pic to begin with. Here’s the beauty:

EvolvingWild album of the week #67 Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam If I don’t think about it too hard, this might be my favorite album of the last 20 years. At the very least it’s an album that impacted me more than any record ever has. Perfection.

dril on letterboxd might be better than dril on twitter. Still thinking this over, but the reviews are insanely good lol

Thinking about Adam Fox as one usually does at 4AM on a Saturday morning.

Here’s our day 1 haul from the Barnes & Noble Criterion sale. Given everything is 50% off I struggle to not buy way more lol. It’s dangerous.

Nichushkin's had one of the more interesting modern careers in the NHL, which we briefly featured in among a small circle of online people (oh the good old days). Throughout his time in Colorado he averaged less than 60 GP a season. The rare player whose rates were higher than his raw production.

A fellow intellectual, I see

I continually fuck over my future self

Tonight's work music. One of my favorite albums of all time. Yes, there's some nostalgia here because I listened to this endlessly when I was like 17. But still - this is an incredibly impressive record that still goes *extremely* hard.

Also let's me break out this classic that I don't think anyone really liked in the first place