Today, at the coffee shop, there was a lady in front of me getting a cup of coffee. She turned her purse upside down looking for small change, so that she wouldn't have to charge her ice cream and coffee on her card.

I heard her mumble about having it in there somewhere, and told her that I had the ten krona she needed.

"I have it here, if you need it," I said.

"No, no, I'll just put it on the card," she replied, and waved her VISA.

"Thanks, anyway," she said.

"Sure," I said, and put the coin back into my pocket.

It was probably the "if you need it" that did it.

Back in the rowdy 1990s, I worked at the Canadian Embassy in Helsinki, helping Canadian companies to find business partners in Finland. Sounds glamorous, I know. And it was. Oh, those forestry seminars in Brussels. I wish I could tell you about them but it's still too early for that.

Anyway, working for Canada was great. They even made me an honorary Newfoundlander after I passed the initiation rite: drank screech and kissed a cod. In that order.

Can't wait to see what it takes to become an honorary Quebecer (or Quebecois).

Here's something to give us hope:

Watts figures, if you rewound the world to 1982, Madonna would likely remain a total unknown--and someone else would have slipped into her steel-tipped corset. "You cannot predict in advance whether a band gets this huge cascade of popularity, because the social network is liable to throw up almost any result," he marvels.

So, keep your head down, your underwear on top of your clothes, and work hard. Maybe the word-of-mouth will make you a star.

Joe Pelletier, a Canadian hockey historian, the engine behind Hockey Book Reviews, Greatest Hockey Legends, and 1972SummitSeries.com and author of Legends of Team Canada and The World Cup Of Hockey recently reviewed Off The Post.

Each online posting is by itself, an experience to be enjoyed in the immediate moment. But when you pick out the best and put it into a book, Pakarinen's contributions become an entertaining and thoughtful archive of the past couple of years. But it also offers so much more.

Read the entire review here, then check out the Off The Post site here. Get yours today!

In 1977, I bought my first LP. I took bus number 64 to downtown Helsinki and walked to the pharmacy slash record store across the street from the market. Now, I already had a bunch of tapes at home, but this was the first real record I bought.

It came down to two records: The Happy Days album "Fonzie's favorites" and Elvis's "The Rocking Days." After a long deliberation, I chose Elvis. I mean, he was The King, and even if I didn't know it then, he had the record for most number one hit singles on the Billboard 100 chart back then, 17.

Then, the Beatles topped him, and got 20.

And now, Mariah Carey stepped on Elvis's blue suede shoes when she scored her 18th number one hit.

The Fonz writes children's books. Heyyyy!

Another one on nhl.com, this time a little special.

I am ready. Headphones are already on, recording device probably will be ready, all I need now is you people in North America to call me at (718) 395-1775. My fellow Euros can call me at +358 9 2316 5817.
When to call me on Wednesday, April 2? I will be available to talk between 9 p.m. CET (3 pm EST) and 2 am CET (8 pm EST). After that, if you do call, feel free to leave a message, but don’t expect me to answer, I will be fast asleep.

More below or here.

» Continued