The Wild lost last night and I’m feeling OK about it. I didn’t realize I actually had tickets to the game until the day before, so it was nice just to be there.

Despite the loss of two points to a hated rival, I enjoyed watching the game. In some ways, a 4-3 loss is more entertaining than a 1-0 win. The bounces just didn’t go the Wild’s way last night – C’est la vie.

A couple of notes from our experience:

• The first free mug was handed out after the game, featuring Mikko Koivu, Moose Goheen, Mike Modano and Doc Romnes (see above).
• It’s fun reading Twitter feeds on my phone during game breaks, especially @hockeywildernes and @QuickFacts.
• I set up a Twitter account for Hockey in Minnesota (@hockeymn), but don’t like doing in-game tweets – too busy watching the game.
• Somebody really needed to level Avery when he was in Backstrom’s face.
• The scoring change from Skoula to Bruno was the talk of our section – “all is now right with the world again.”
• I took a bunch of photos during pre-game warm-ups from the side of the rink (instead of behind the goal) and got some unique shots.
• At the risk of sounding like an elitist, the Team of 18,000 needs less homers and more people with hockey knowledge.
• Speaking of 18,000, they announced a “standing-room only” crowd of 18,568 last night, but apparently my old single seat season ticket hasn’t been sold and is continually empty every game (even for an in-demand ticket like Dallas).

Next game for me: December 17 versus the Flames.

Mikko Koivu during pre-game warm-ups before the 4-3 home loss to Dallas, 11-26-2008.

I’ve personally used Descente ski jackets and pants since I started racing in high school 20+ years ago. Their clothing has always been top-notch and can usually be purchased far below the suggested retail price if you know when and where to go.

In the past, this meant places like White Wolf (RIP), Hoigaard’s and Joe’s. These days, I really like Valley Bike and Ski in Apple Valley – friendly staff, good sale prices and usually a great selection of Descente.

Two years ago, I purchased the coat pictured above and was exposed to Descente’s unique Passport Program – the jacket came with a book of passes to various ski areas across the country. We used three of them, which basically paid for the coat. Spirit Mountain was the only Minnesota area that year, I believe.

Full Disclosure: Descente sent me an email about a special online sale they are having for their DNA line and I noticed they had a promotion for webmasters that will award a free jacket to selected sites that link to them. Free jacket or no, I’m happy to write about their great products and refer people to Minnesota ski shops that carry Descente.

According to an email from them, Lutsen Mountains is opening Saturday, November 22, 2008 with five runs on Ullr Mountain. They are making snow and hope to have 20+ runs open by Thanksgiving weekend.

Early season deals include 2 for 1 lift and lodging (through December 18) and a free concert on Saturday night at the always great Papa Charlie’s by slide guitarist Nathan Miller.

Yesterday I tried something that apparently I’ve missed out on for the past 25 years – winter indoor running at the Metrodome, sponsored by the Minnesota Distance Running Association (MDRA).

Aside from the hard concrete surface, this is a great opportunity to continue training during the harsh Minnesota winter. For only $1 per session, you can run from 5:00PM to 8:00PM most Tuesdays and Thursdays from now until March 12th. Parking is free outside gate D (which is also where you enter).

Participants use the upper concourse, with slower runners and walkers on the outside and sub-seven-minute-mile runners on the inside. The outside flow goes counter-clockwise, while the inside runners head the other direction.

The outside wall distance is 0.40 mile, so two and a half loops will give you one mile. I ran 18 loops (7.12 miles) and encountered perhaps 50 people there the first hour – definitely not crowded with plenty of room to maneuver.

Bathrooms are open for men and women and serve as ad-hoc changing areas. Water fountains are also available and people just leave jackets and bags along the wall. I did not see any posted rules against headphones, but it seemed most people did not have them.

For more information on this program, contact Rick Recker at 612-375-0805.

Tonight I stopped by the Apple Store at the Mall of America to pick up a new MacBook for a colleague at work. After 30 minutes of unpacking and configuration, I have to say, it’s a pretty nice machine.

The previous edition of the Mac Book has served many people I know very well – my wife has one and I purchased quite a few for the school here and in LA. Aside from a few notable melt-downs, they have worked great for the price.

My biggest issue with the new edition was the lack of a FireWire port. This has been talked about all over the web and I understand the reasons Apple dropped it, but I will still miss the convenience of FireWire target mode and the ability to use the huge pile of FireWire hard drives I have laying around.

The build quality of the new machines is top notch – the block of aluminum process creates one solid-feeling laptop. It’s a lot lighter than I expected and the glossy LED-backlit screen is bright and vivid without too much glare. The entry-level configuration is somewhat pricey, but has specs that are usable right out of the box without needing any extra upgrades. No video cable in the box sucks, though.

This is not the laptop for me (I’m a 17-inch matte screen guy), but it’s very nice and would likely serve the needs of 80% of the laptop market quite well.