My 2010-11 NHL awards picks

Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP): Marty St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
Vezina Trophy (best goalie): Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins
James Norris Memorial Trophy (best defenseman): Shea Weber, Nashville Predators
Calder Memorial Trophy (top rookie): Jeff Skinner, Carolina Hurricanes
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy (gentlemanly conduct): Marty St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
Frank J. Selke Trophy (top defensive forward): Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks
Jack Adams Award (top coach): Guy Boucher, Tampa Bay Lightning (yes, I know he's not a finalist)
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy (dedication, perseverance and sportsmanship): Ray Emery, Anaheim Ducks (pretty weak field, too)
Ted Lindsay Award (players' MVP): Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks

Too bad this happened

Something tells me that I should be happy that I'm halfway home with this 2008-09 NHL MVP 2 on 2 quad jersey card, now that Jason Arnott, in town with the Washington Capitals recently, signed it. But I'm not. And it has something to do with Arnott signing on the swatch.

To me, there's plenty of room to the right of his face to offer up a similarly sized signature. To me, it looks sloppy where he signed it, starting within the fabric. Funny thing, too, is that Arnott enjoys a solid reputation as a signer. I'd hate to think that he did it on purpose.

It's also a bit troubling because I consider these quad thread cards as centerpieces of the Threads collection. As a result, I'd like for them to really pop.

What I've learned from this is to ask the player to sign a specific area. If he does, that's great. The card only looks that much better with each signature. If he doesn't, well, then I know it's a conscious effort on his part to be a jerk about it.

Nashville's David Legwand kicked off the card earlier this season. Now, all we need are the Predators' Shea Weber and Steve Sullivan to complete the card.

Top Shelf: Jason Arnott

He may not go down in NHL scoring annals as one of the most prolific in history, but New Jersey's Jason Arnott gets major points in my book after signing these three pucks during the Devils' visit last week.

Really, I would've been happy with just one, but signing all three lands him the Top Shelf honor.

Adding up

Though hockey hounds often use nineboards when getting cards signed, we're happy, for a number of reasons, with offering only four cards at a time. It has nothing to do with not wanting to be greedy because, yes, we like getting as many autographs as we can.

Instead, I like using a compact card book, one that fits easily into a pocket. Even moreso, I don't want to take the time involved in not just putting together nineboards, but actually working that many cards for players.

Another reason, especially this season, is the cardbook is easier for Colin to handle. After last week's visit by the Atlanta Thrashers, he has a significant number of reasons why he's finding cardbooks useful.

All told, he scored 47 autographs from Thrashers players, including these five who signed all four cards he offered:

Forwards Nik Antropov and Evander Kane;

forward Bryan Little and goalie Chris Mason; and

defenseman Brent Sopel.

Editor's note: This is the 500th post of Hound Central 5.0. Special thanks to those who've helped out and to our faithful readers.

Team report: Nashville Predators

It's not very often that two NHL teams visit Hockey Bay at the same time, but that's exactly what happened last Sunday when the Nashville Predators and the Pittsburgh Penguins were in town. Even better, from a hound's point of view, was both teams stayed at the same hotel.

Sure, it meant for a busy day, as we ping-ponged between the two clubs, but our hard work was certainly rewarded, as we snagged 43 autographs, including nine pucks, from the Smashville boys. As for the Penguins, this post, over at Hockey Hounds Universe, will have to tide you over for a few days.

Among those signing pucks (shown above):

Top row: Patric Hornqvist and Pekka Rinne; and
Bottom row: Steve Sullivan and Joel Ward

Those signing cards were:

Top row: J.P. Dumont, Cody Franson and Hornqvist;
Middle row: Andrei Kostitsyn, Rinne and Sullivan; and
Bottom row: Alexander Sulzer, Jordin Tootoo and Colin Wilson

Given his rookie status, this cheap skate card came in quite handy for goalie Anders Lindback.

The other highlights of our busy day:

~ Captain Shea Weber on a 2010 Olympics gold medal champions puck;
~ Two Colins making acquaintances;
~ Adding Patric Hornqvist to the Threads collection; and
~ Colin getting a compliment on his team sheet.

Dang it!

Of the thousands of pucks we've gotten signed over the years, you'd think paint pen issues would be a thing of the past. Despite shaking and priming the DecoColor Liquid Gold paint pen, I was less than satisfied with how it worked when Nashville's Shea Weber signed this puck.

Granted, Weber's signature is legible, but it's not as thick as I'd hoped.

Colin, Colin. Colin, Colin.

Seeing that there's not too many NHL players with the first name of Colin, it's always cool when my Colin gets to meet one. In this case, it was Nashville's Colin Wilson.

"Hey, Colin, can you guess my first name," Colin asked?

"Ah, let me guess," Wilson responded. "Colin?"

"Yep," Colin said.

After the exchange, Wilson, the seventh-overall pick in the 2008 draft, was nice enough to sign these two pucks for us.

Only time tells

When I got this UD Rookie Materials jersey swatch card of Nashville's Patric Hornqvist, I wasn't all that thrilled. First, the jersey swatch came from a photo shoot, not an NHL game. Secondly, Hornqvist hadn't shown his goal-scoring prowess.

A lot has changed since then. I'm happy, too, to add this to the Threads collection. Still, though I still wish the jersey was worn during a game.

Handy items

When it comes to training camps, there's no limit to the items that hockey hounds can get signed. Beyond 8x10s and cards, as well as a handful of pucks, jersey swatch cards are one of the first items to make the wish list.

Over the past week, Tampa Bay's Adam Hall, Mike Lundin and Marc-Antoine Pouliot added to our growing Threads collection, one of Hound Central 5.0's primary projects for the 2010-11 hockey-hounding campaign.

While Hall and Pouliot signed individual cards, Lundin kicked off a work-in-progress project featuring NHL defensemen. Only after Atlanta's Tobias Enstrom, Dallas' Matt Niskanen and Vancouver's Kevin Bieska sign it will the 2 on 2 Jerseys card, part of the 2008-09 NHL MVP set, be complete.

Enstrom and Niskanen are scheduled to visit Hockey Bay this season. Bieska, a reported toughie on hounds, will have to wait until the Canucks return to Florida.

Stockpiling material

One of the more enjoyable projects during the 2009-10 hockey hounding campaign was adding to the Threads collection of signed jersey swatch cards. Though we'll be scaling back during the 2010-11 season, in terms of items and trips, continuing this project will represent a major part of our efforts.

Thanks to eBay, I've been cherry-picking some jersey swatch cards over the past few weeks, adding to the inventory. As you can see, some fairly big names, including Buffalo's Ryan Miller, Hall of Famer Joey Mullen, Ottawa's Jason Spezza and Florida's (for how long?) Tomas Vokoun were part of the haul.

A couple of cards from the 2009-10 MVP Two on Two quad memorabilia series have also made the 2010-11 campaign lineup:

The top card of the two shown, featuring younger NHL defensemen, won't get completed this season as Vancouver and reputed toughie Kevin Bieksa won't travel to Hockey Bay this season.

The bottom card, showing members of Nashville's 2009-10 roster, will get worked in October, when the Predators play the Tampa Bay Lightning, but will have to wait until Jason Arnott and his New Jersey teammates hit Hockey Bay in January to be completed.

Your Turn III

Thank goodness for faithful readers. If it wasn't for these fine folks, this collection of hounding reports wouldn't be possible.

Let's see what they've been up to:

Michael

Hounding out of Hartford, Conn., and Springfield, Mass., Michael takes advantage of his proximity to American Hockey League cities. This is his first report:

"Doing mostly the AHL, you don't get the big names but players who are on the rise over time like Thomas Hickey, Nikita Filatov, Tuukka Rask and Marc-Andre Fleury. Even the year of the NHL lockout, we were able to get Eric Staal and Patrice Bergeron on multiple items.

"Then, there are those players looking to just get another chance, like Adam Hall, Ryan Craig and Mark Parrish among others (you will notice I mentioned a lot of Tampa players).

"And if you pay attention to the transaction page from the AHL you get players sent down for conditioning. The Islanders' Rick Dipietro and Marty Biron were down this year.

"Even with all that, the ones to watch out for are the scouts. In the past few years, I've gotten Brad Park, Bill Barber, Larry Robinson and Kevin Lowe, among others.

The main difference in hounding the NHL vs. the AHL is the attitude by both the hounds and the players. When it comes to the hounds, there is less pressure to get things signed. So, no one is pushing or shoving to get something signed.

"The players themselves seem more willing to sign. I have noticed that when some players get to the NHL, their habits will change and many no longer sign multiples or sign at all.

"I can remember sitting in a hotel in Springfield with another hound watching TV. The Bruins were on. John Slaney, then with the Philadelphia Phantoms, came out of the elevator, signed and then sat down to watch the game with us.

"We were later joined by other members of the team who all signed and made comments about the game. Then there is the times you get to players or former players sitting in the stands and you get to hear a lot of great stories.

"And for all you puck collectors, one to get if you don't have it would be Marty McSorley. Well worth the wait. And ask him about his movie role in Con Air; he was the pilot."

Keith

Keith and his wife don't mind making the drive from Memphis to Nashville to watch the Predators. They leave work early on game days so they catch the earliest of the players.

Phoenix Coyotes: "I bailed out of work around noon and we got out of Memphis around 12:30 and in downtown Nashville by 3:30. As we pulled up to the team's hotel, we realized that the team bus was just pulling up in front of the main entrance. This is always a good sign, in that it ensures that we haven't missed any early players.

"Since it was cold, we ducked into the hotel to grab some hot coffee from the Starbucks in the lobby. As we were walking out to take our regular spots outside the hotel, we spotted former Pred and current Yote, Vern Fiddler, checking out. He followed us out and was more than happy to sign a couple of pucks and chat a bit while he flashed his newly reconfigured smile. He recently lost four teeth in a harsh meeting with a slapshot.

"Shortly thereafter, the players came out in groups. We missed out on Jovu as he had hotel staff wave down a taxi immediately after loading his bags into the bus. Most of the team, though, was fair game and was happy to sign after ditching their luggage. Most opted to walk the three blocks to the arena.

"We scored multiples from Peter Mueller (who insisted on priming each paint pen before signing ... great guy), Ilya Bryzgalov, Shane Doan, Taylor Pyatt and Keith Yandle. Others signing were Robert Lang, Adrian Aucoin, and Radim Vrbata. The only player who boarded the bus and didn't return to sign at all was goalie Jason Labarbera.

"And although he was called up from the AHL a couple of days prior and listed as as a healthy scratch that night at the game, we never saw Mikkel Boedker walk over. He since has been sent back down.

"All in all, a great trip worthy of the six-hour round trip. It's a shame the Preds lost, though."

J.R.

J.R., checking in again from San Jose, shares this head-scratcher:

"Joe Thornton stopped to sign after practice. The first person he tried to sign for was a female who had a black Thornton T-shirt. Her silver Sharpie wasn't working, so I gave her mine to use. She also had him sign her Sharks team sheet (the generic ones sold in the team store, not drawn like the ones your son creates).

"He then walked right past me and signed about another 8-10 autographs before heading into the locker room.

"Here's my deal. I won't yell, beg or draw any unnecessary attention to myself to get a player to sign. Thornton obviously saw me, but decided to move on. That's fine. I can try again some other time."

BEV

BEV, hounding in Toronto, shares another story of enjoying inside-the-hotel access:

New Jersey Devils: "I had an opportunity to hound the New Jersey Devils prior to game time Feb. 2. when they were in Toronto. Obviously, my main goal was to get an auto from Martin Brodeur. I was also looking for a sig from Devils coach Jacques Lemaire. I also kept an eye open for assistant coach Scott Stevens and special assignment coach Larry Robinson.

"I only collect Hall of Famers, so the rest of the team did not interest me. The team was staying at a high-end Hyatt hotel downtown. I was also staying at the hotel, so I freely made my way back and forth between the lobby and the 15 hounds on the sidewalk.

"The game bus parked on the street in front of the north tower of the hotel around 3:30 p.m. Security staff put up waist-high fences across the sidewalk that the hounds had to stay behind. Unfortunately, this interfered with pedestrians using the sidewalk, who had to walk around the hounds and fences.

"The players got to the bus by walking through a special door that lead through the kitchen of the hotel restaurant. Security was very tight. There were several plainclothes security guards with earpieces in the lobby and on the sidewalk. Lobby access to the players near the special kitchen exit was minimal due to the number of security staff.

"Around 3:45 p.m., I noticed Lemaire outside on the sidewalk having a cigar. After he was done his stogie, I asked him for an autograph in French and he gladly signed a Montreal Canadiens logo card for me. Several hounds by the bus saw me and brought over sticks, pucks, etc., to get signed. He signed everything.

"Around 4:00 p.m., I returned to the lobby and noticed several players walking through the lobby to the south tower of the hotel. For some reason, player after player went to the south tower of the hotel before they went to the team bus parked by the north tower. I never did figure it out. Maybe they were dropping off room keys or something.

"Anyway all the security folks were in the north tower or by the bus. I sat in a chair by the south tower elevators, pretending to read my Brodeur autobiography (with a blue sharpie hidden underneath). Sure enough, Marty comes walking through the lobby toward the south tower.

"I show him his book and ask for an autograph in French. He immediately recognizes the book and walks over to me to sign it. I tell him I am looking forward to reading it. He thanks me for buying it. Perfect.

"I was two-for-two and decided to head out to the street to see how the other hounds were doing. By now, it is about 4:30 and all the players are heading out to the bus. Let me say that most of the team was very good at signing. Almost every player signed for every hound who asked. Only Rob Niedermayer and Jamie Langenbrunner needed to be coaxed by the hounds but they did sign.

"Also note that some of the players did not use the special kitchen exit and exited through the front doors of the lobby. They walked right out to the sidewalk/street, tried to blend in with pedestrians and board the bus without the hounds noticing. Of course the hounds noticed this and got the sigs they wanted.

"When it was time for Brodeur to board the bus, the hounds went into a screaming frenzy. He came out of the special kitchen exit and to the right-hand fence. Immediately in front of me, he signed a team photo for a guy, a puck for a guy and boarded the bus. That was two sigs for the 15 hounds. I thought about getting something else signed, but I was happy with the book. I never did see Stevens and Robinson.

"It was a great outing for me adding two more Hall of Famers to my collection."

Moody's Olympics Gold: Team Sweden

Team Sweden won its last gold medal in 2006 at the last Olympiad held in Torino, Italy. Of the 23-man roster, I've managed to get 16 players from the NHL-rich squad.

Cards signed by some of Team Sweden's players:

Top row: Atlanta's Tobias Enstrom, New York's Henrik Lundquist, Columbus' Fred Modin, Tampa's Mattias Ohlund; and
Bottom row: Vancouver's Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Bufalo's Henrik Tallinder and Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg.

More cards signed by Team Sweden players:

Top row: Detroit's Johan Franzen, Dallas' Loui Eriksson; and
Bottom row: Nashville's Patric Hornqvist, Detroit's Niklas Kronwall, and Washington's Nicklas Backstrom.

San Jose's Doug Murray

Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson stadium poster

Toronto's Jonas Gustavsson.

Most of these items have been signed over the past two seasons, either in Hockey Bay or South Florida.

Moody's Olympics Gold: Team Canada

Team Canada won its last gold medal in 2002, but failed to medal in the last Olympiad, earning only a seventh-place finish. Of the 23-man roster, I've managed to get 21 players from the NHL-rich squad, only missing out on Philadelphia's Mike Richards (kinda) and Dallas' Brenden Morrow

Cards signed by some of Team Canada's forwards:

Top row: Anaheim's Corey Perry, Columbus' Rick Nash, San Jose's Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley; and
Bottom row: Calgary's Jarome Iginla, Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf, Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Boston's Patrice Bergeron.

More cards signed by Team Canada players:

Top row: Philadelphia's Chris Pronger, Anaheim's Scott Niedermayer, Chicago's Duncan Keith and Los Angeles' Drew Doughty; and
Bottom row: San Jose's Dan Boyle, Chicago's Jonathan Toews, San Jose's Joe Thornton and Carolina's Eric Staal

Even more cards signed by Team Canada players:

Top row: Vancouver's Roberto Luongo; and
Bottom row: Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury, New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, Nashville's Shea Weber and Chicago's Brent Seabrook.

Most of these cards have been signed in the past two seasons, either in Hockey Bay or South Florida.

Concerning Richards, I do have an autograph from him. Unfortunately, though, it's on a wrong card.

Better than none

As the 2009-10 hockey hounding campaign wears on, I keep revisiting our stash of jersey swatch cards to pluck at least one for every team that travels to Hockey Bay for the season-long Threads project.

In the case of the New York Islanders, I had four, but managed to get only these two signed Thursday by goalie coach Mike Dunham, above, and winger Jeff Tambellini.

I also had cards for goalies Rick Dipietro and Martin Biron. Dipietro, however, arranged private transportation between the Westin Tampa Harbour Island hotel and the St. Pete Times Forum. And, Biron, who's no stranger to Sharpies, was sent down to AHL Bridgeport on a conditioning assignment.

Your Turn I

As promised, here is the first installment of Your Turn, Hound Central 5.0's platform for other hockey hounds -- young and old -- to share stories of their autograph adventures.

If you'd like to take part in future installments, and I hope you consider doing this, please send your stories to Hound Central 5.0.

In this offering, Hound Central 5.0 is pleased to introduce stories from these four hockey hounds:

Jordan

At 14 years old, Jordan is the youngest contributor, and does so with his parents' permission.

"After going to the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose's first-ever skills competition, I had a feeling in my head of rookie hounding that simply I had to get the job done.

"How, though? Well, in advance, I asked my dad to take me there. He had no problem with it. It may have been busy, but my patience was rewarded by getting (center) Marty Murray, a former Carolina Hurricanes and Calgary Flames player on my second-ever signed hockey puck.

"I also got guys like (defenseman) Mike Funk and (goalie) Daren Machesney to sign what I presented to them. I had a good time and I will go hockey hounding in the near future.

"Thanks for reading!"

BEV

Bev shares his story of enjoying inside-the-hotel access during the recent Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2009's induction ceremonies:

"I was at the Westin Harbour Castle hotel in Toronto during the Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Celebration. On the eve of the induction ceremony (November 9), there was only about seven people in the lobby getting autographs (compared to a mob of about 30 local hounds/dealers out on the street).

"The hotel was packed with people. This year, hotel security staff did let registered guests get autographs from players in the lobby, but they were still discouraging it. Registered guests were allowed to call a player over to sign something, but security did not want anyone running up to players or forming crowds around them.

"In the past, if the security staff saw you getting autographs in the lobby, they would give you a warning and threaten to throw you out of the hotel ... even if you were a registered guest.

"People I saw signing included Lanny McDonald, Dale Hawerchuk, Borje Salming, Bryan Trottier, Steve Shutt, Billy Smith, Peter Stastny, Michel Goulet, Johnny Bower, Larry Murphy, Ted Lindsay, Chris Chelios and Rod Gilbert. Bobby Hull was an outstanding signer.

"There were many other Hall of Famers signing, but I did not know their names. I heard that Viacheslav Fetisov turned down many autograph requests, but did not witness it. Steve Yzerman, Luc Robitaille and Brian Leetch signed a few on their way to their limos.

"Brett Hull signed a few and used some very vulgar language indicating that he just wanted to be left alone. He then went to a secluded corner of the lobby bar, so he could visit with friends without being disturbed before he caught his limo ride.

"Yes, I did cherry-pick some selected autographs for my personal collection. Each year, this night is a great opportunity to load up on Hall of Famers if you are a registered hotel guest and if security leaves you alone. Some years, you can easily get 15 to 30 Hall of Fame signatures. On a year when security is grumpy, you may only get one or two."

Scott B.

Scott, out of South Florida, sent in many reports from his adventures hounding NHL teams at hotels. Here are a handful of his reports, with others to follow in future installments:

New Jersey Devils: "The Devils' PR guy is the worst in the league by far. Over the past few years, we have only been able to get Colin White and Martin Brodeur before he has the hotel throw us off of the property. This year was just a little better. We were able to get Zach Parise (2 of 4 cards), Brian Rolston (3 of 3), Bryce Salvador (1 of 1) and Rob Niedermayer (3 of 12). Then the PR guy had us all thrown off the property. After getting kicked out, some of the other (hounds) waited in their cars and were able to run up to the bus to get Brodeur. New Jersey is the only team that stays at this hotel that gives us a problem, thanks to the PR guy."

Los Angeles Kings: "We have not seen the Kings for several years, so we didn't know what to expect. But they were the best signing team by far this season. We got Dustin Brown (4 of 4), Alexander Frolov (2 of 6), Raitis Ivanans (1 Parkhurst card), Teddy Purcell (1 of 1), Brad Richardson (3 of 3), Wayne Simmonds (1 of 1), Jarret Stoll (3 of 3), Justin Williams (2 of 2), Drew Doughty (2 of 2), Jack Johnson (4 of 4), Randy Jones (1 of 1) and Jonathan Quick (1 Parkhurst card). A big key was that we were allowed to call over players, something that has been hit-or-miss at this particular hotel."

Pittsburgh Penguins: "The Penguins are not a good signing team. Usually they stay at a hotel on the beach, but this time they stayed at the same hotel used by the Los Angeles Kings. But the Penguins players walk around like gods because they won the Stanley Cup. And most of them even look bothered if you ask them for an autograph. Our friends told us that the only ones to sign were Pascal Dupuis, Ben Lovejoy and Nathan Guenin.I also heard that the hotel's manager didn't allow hounds to call over players."

Keith

Keith and his wife, who live in Memphis, Tenn., are devout Nashville Predators fans with a partial season ticket package. Their hounding adventures are just that; Both leave work early (usually around noon or so) to make it to the east side of the Sommet Center by 3 p.m. on game days to catch the earliest of the players.

"I have several stories tied to our hounding, but my most rewarding experiences are when I was just going for very few players or even just a single. The most recent was when the Edmonton Oilers came into Nashville earlier this season.

I've been a huge fan of Nikolai Khabibulin since the mid 1990s and I probably consider him my favorite player of all time. In college, I would play the arcade game 'NHL Open Ice' in the campus' arcade to make the Phoenix Coyotes a playoff team and to hear the announcer mispronounce his name ("Save from COBBY-BOO-LINN").

Anyway, I had never been able to catch him on previous visits, despite him playing in division rival Chicago for several years. My work schedule, his injuries, traffic, etc., had pretty much convinced me that I wouldn't ever pull it off.

"This season, I bought my ticket package in July, picking out the lone Oilers-Predators game in the first half of the season for the sole purpose of getting Habby's sig before the game.

"We showed up in plenty of time and spotted the team's bus parked at the Hilton Hotel, just across the side street from the arena, meaning that the majority of the players would simply walk across and enter through the player's entrance. Only one other hound was present and she easily added to her collection, scoring Shawn Horcoff, Sam Gagner, Jeff Deslauriers and others.

We chatted with her about really only targeting Habby, and she assured us that he was really friendly and would sign as long as he was walking over, rather than riding the bus. Strangely enough, some actually do ride the bus over rather than walk the 200 feet.

"After about 45 minutes, it seemed the entire team had walked over and the progression of players ended with no Habby. Determined (and with nothing better to do), we waited. Finally admitting defeat, we were retreating from our spot when I saw the familiar face exit the door of the hotel.

"I hate to admit that I can turn into 'fan boy' when encountering the players I watched as a kid, but I do. I simply stayed put and tried to play it cool, simply addressing him as 'Habby,' and asking him to sign an old Coyotes puck for me.

"My wife extended a McFarlane base to him and he signed after confirming with her that the same paint pen would suffice. He shook my hand and took his time signing and chatted a bit.

"The entire trip resulted in just a couple of autos from a single player, but it's been by far my most memorable hounding experience thus far."

These took 652 days?

I should be more appreciative, seeing that all four of these cards were signed and returned, but waiting nearly two years on our 2007 TTM request to Nashville's Shea Weber seems a bit much. After all, it's not like he's Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux, who, I'm told, return TTM requests rather quickly by using autopens.

Then again, maybe Weber is swamped with these requests. He's a fairly solid defenseman on a pretty stout Predators squad. But 652 days? That's more than enough time, don't you think?

These cards, mailed out Nov. 28, 2007, landed in our mailbox on Sept. 11. I guess that's why I stopped TTM projects. I just don't have the patience.