Happy 41st Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATHIEU!
I went back into the archives and pulled up an old birthday tribute. Here is the one done June 12, 2000 in honor of Mathieu's 31st birthday. 


The following is a list of important and noteworthy events that took place on the day of Mathiue’s birth, throughout recent history. The links connect you to more information or interesting tidbits regarding the events. (Note: I added two from last year, because, well, why not?  Also last year on Mathieu's 40th birthday, my eldest nephew graduated from high school. YAY Tim!)

• 304 years before Mathieus birth, in 1665, English rename New Amsterdam, New York, after Dutch pull out
• 278 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1691, Innocent XII succeeds Alexander VIII as Pope
• 193 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1776, Virginia adopts Declaration of Rights
• 177 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1792, George Vancouver discovers site of Vancouver, BC
• 157 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1812, Napoleon invades Russia
• 130 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1839, 1st baseball game played in America
• 120 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1849, Gas mask patented by Lewis Haslett (Louisville Ky)
• 110 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1859, Comstock Silver Lode in Nevada discovered
• 89 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1880, 1st baseball perfect game-John Richmond of Worcester beats Cleveland's Forest City, 1-0
• 72 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1897, Possibly most severe quake in history strikes Assam India, shock waves felt over an area size of Europe (negligible death toll)
• 66 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1903, Niagara Falls, Ontario incorporated as a city
• 46 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1923, Harry Houdini frees himself from a straight jacket while suspended upside down, 40 feet (12 m) above ground in NYC
• 38 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1931, Al Capone is indicted on 5,000 counts of prohibition & perjury
• 34 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1935, Senator Huey Long of Louisiana spoke continually for 15 hours, Senate's longest speech on record (150,000 words)
• 30 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1939, Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown NY
• 27 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1942, Anne Frank gets her diary as a birthday present (Amsterdam)
• 15 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1954, Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock," is originally released
• 7 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1962, 3 convicts used spoons to dig their way out of Alcatraz
• 5 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1964, Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison in South Africa
• 4 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1965, Big Bang theory of creation of universe is supported by announcement
• 2 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1967, Israel wins 6 day war
• 2 years before Mathieu's birth, in 1967, Supreme Court unanimously ends laws against interracial marriages
• On Mathieu's 12 birthday, in 1981, "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" starring Harrison Ford premieres, the first in the Indiana Jones series
• On Mathieu's 22 birthday, in 1991, Boris Yelstin elected president of Russian Federation
• On Mathieu's 28 birthday, in 1997, 1st ever baseball inter-league game SF Giants beat Texas Rangers 4-3

• On Mathieu's 40 birthday, in 2009, massive civil unrest breaks out in Iran following controversial results of a national election, and the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup, defeating the Detroit Red Wings in the seventh game

Eighth night of Hanukkah / Chanukah

Well, for giggles, I thought I'd reprise my online celebration of Hanukkah this year. It conveniently coincides with my two weeks off from work (yes!) and I'm doing one of those "stay-cations" where I take the two weeks to do absolutely nothing except sit on my butt at home (yes!).

For the 8 nights of Hanukkah, I'll try to find some kind of Mathieu-related "gift" to share. So, in honor of the eighth night of Hanukkah, here is gift number 8.

I was officially out of ideas. Short of anything more creative, I looked for cool goals Mathieu has scored and was going to post a video. I found a good one and put the embed code here, and began to type out the date of the goal. It was December. It made me think, and gave me an idea. So here, for the eighth and final night of Hanukkah, are three goals Mathieu scored during the holidays past. (At least the ones that have video available on NHL.tv)


(Buffalo at Anaheim, December 5, 2007... the 2nd night of Hanukkah)



(Anaheim at Chicago, December 7, 2007... the 4th night of Hanukkah)



(Columbus at Detroit, December 31, 2005... the 7th night of Hanukkah)


An aside: For those who are interested, here is a neat "what you need to know about Hanukkah" story from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: Spinning Tales: A Hanukkah Primer. And don't laugh at the graphic. That was the first animated gif I ever made, back in 1997 or so (using Claris Works clip art and a semi-legal copy of Photoshop). It was hot stuff at the time. =)

Seventh night of Hanukkah / Chanukah

Well, for giggles, I thought I'd reprise my online celebration of Hanukkah this year. It conveniently coincides with my two weeks off from work (yes!) and I'm doing one of those "stay-cations" where I take the two weeks to do absolutely nothing except sit on my butt at home (yes!).

For the 8 nights of Hanukkah, I'll try to find some kind of Mathieu-related "gift" to share. So, in honor of the seventh night of Hanukkah, here is gift number 7.

I'm not sure there was much snow in the land of Judea in 200 B.C.E when the Maccabees kicked the crap out of the armies of King Antiochus of Syria and took back the Temple. But because that epic battle-- and the ensuing oil-that-burned-for-8-days miracle-- took place in the month of Kislev (which corresponds with "our" November - December months), Hanukkah is often lumped together with the Winter celebrations that are widely symbolized by snow (at least in the Northern Hemisphere).

Hockey is a cold weather, wintery sport. Mathieu obviously has experience with that one. But there is another popular winter activity that Mathieu has never participated in, and looks forward to doing so when he eventually retires. What is is?

"Skiing is one of the things I'd love to do. I always say that's the first thing I gotta do when I retire. It's one of those things, it's just not worth it if you blow out your knee."

Yes, I know this one was a stretch, but it's hard to come up with 8 cool holiday/religious/winter-related things. And I hope to be skiing soon, so I've got the slopes on my mind. And yeah Mathieu, it is fun and worth a try.

An aside: For those who are interested, here is a neat "what you need to know about Hanukkah" story from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: Spinning Tales: A Hanukkah Primer. And don't laugh at the graphic. That was the first animated gif I ever made, back in 1997 or so (using Claris Works clip art and a semi-legal copy of Photoshop). It was hot stuff at the time. =)

Sixth night of Hanukkah / Chanukah

Well, for giggles, I thought I'd reprise my online celebration of Hanukkah this year. It conveniently coincides with my two weeks off from work (yes!) and I'm doing one of those "stay-cations" where I take the two weeks to do absolutely nothing except sit on my butt at home (yes!).

For the 8 nights of Hanukkah, I'll try to find some kind of Mathieu-related "gift" to share. So, in honor of the sixth night of Hanukkah, here is gift number 6.

On November 6, 2006, Mathieu was inducted into the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Why? Well, why not? Also, he was a big part of the Detroit Red Wings at the time, and has some impressive credentials: he's a two time Olympian, two time NHL All-Star, and a Stanley Cup winner. He is also the all-time leading Jewish scorer in NHL history. Said Mathieu of the induction: "It's a great honor. I'm real excited. It's going to be fun. My parents are coming in, so it'll be great" (quote from Ray Slover's article in the Sporting News)

Check out the really cute picture of Mathieu and wife Shannon at the ceremony next to his plaque at the MJSHF website.


An aside: For those who are interested, here is a neat "what you need to know about Hanukkah" story from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: Spinning Tales: A Hanukkah Primer. And don't laugh at the graphic. That was the first animated gif I ever made, back in 1997 or so (using Claris Works clip art and a semi-legal copy of Photoshop). It was hot stuff at the time. =)

Fifth night of Hanukkah / Chanukah

Well, for giggles, I thought I'd reprise my online celebration of Hanukkah this year. It conveniently coincides with my two weeks off from work (yes!) and I'm doing one of those "stay-cations" where I take the two weeks to do absolutely nothing except sit on my butt at home (yes!).

For the 8 nights of Hanukkah, I'll try to find some kind of Mathieu-related "gift" to share. So, in honor of the fifth night of Hanukkah, here is gift number 5.

This one caught my eye in the good ole Unofficial Mathieu Schneider Homepage archives (see September 8, 2005) because "christmas tree" was mentioned. Actually, that mention had nothing to do with Mathieu at all. The following came from a Helene St. James piece in the Detroit Free Press that, you guessed, isn't available online anymore. Anyway, it was about what the Red Wings players' did during the lockout. Apparently, Niklas Lidstrom had a huge Christmas in Sweden, thus the tree mention. What did Mathieu do? He organized:

...While Lidstrom lit up a Christmas tree, Schneider labeled. That, it turns out, was his self-realization. "I'm OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), without a doubt," he said, laughing. "I think it was hidden for a while, but just being around the house, looking for things to do all the time, brought it out." Schneider organized everything in his garage, and when that had been done three or four times, moved inside. That was when his wife intervened. "I was labeling stuff in the kitchen," he said. "My wife had to steal the labeler away from me."

Dang skippy, now I know what I should have asked for for Christmas. I'm totally feeling Mathieu on the labeling and organizing thing (I am, after all, a librarian), and I actually don't own a label maker. Oh the things I could do with one of those!

An aside: For those who are interested, here is a neat "what you need to know about Hanukkah" story from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: Spinning Tales: A Hanukkah Primer. And don't laugh at the graphic. That was the first animated gif I ever made, back in 1997 or so (using Claris Works clip art and a semi-legal copy of Photoshop). It was hot stuff at the time. =)

Third night of Hanukkah / Chanukah

Well, for giggles, I thought I'd reprise my online celebration of Hanukkah this year. It conveniently coincides with my two weeks off from work (yes!) and I'm doing one of those "stay-cations" where I take the two weeks to do absolutely nothing except sit on my butt at home (yes!).

For the 8 nights of Hanukkah, I'll try to find some kind of Mathieu-related "gift" to share. So, in honor of the third night of Hanukkah, here is gift number 3.

This is a time of year when many young hockey players are gifted with lots of cool new equipment. So what was Mathieu's favorite equipment memory as youngster?

"There was one stick I wanted really bad, it was a Christian. I was about eight. They used to have shiny stickers down the side, and that's why I wanted it. My dad wouldn't let me have it, so I begged him for two weeks, and finally he let me have it. Then I cut it too short when I got it, and that became my street hockey stick."

This quote was from a feature in the Star Ledger (NJ) back in February 2000, but isn't available online anymore.

An aside: For those who are interested, here is a neat "what you need to know about Hanukkah" story from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: Spinning Tales: A Hanukkah Primer. And don't laugh at the graphic. That was the first animated gif I ever made, back in 1997 or so (using Claris Works clip art and a semi-legal copy of Photoshop). It was hot stuff at the time. =)

Second night of Hanukkah / Chanukah

Well, for giggles, I thought I'd reprise my online celebration of Hanukkah this year. It conveniently coincides with my two weeks off from work (yes!) and I'm doing one of those "stay-cations" where I take the two weeks to do absolutely nothing except sit on my butt at home (yes!).

For the next 8 nights, I'll try to find some kind of Mathieu-related "gift" to share. So, in honor of the second night of Hanukkah, here is gift number 2.

Last year the Anaheim Ducks, in either an attempt to be inclusive or just shear cluelessness, extended the "Christmas favorites" question to Mathieu. Always a good sport, Mathieu came up with some answers for the question asker that were included with those of his teammates.

Favorite Christmas movie: "Probably Chevy Chase in 'Christmas Vacation.' That's a classic and a great movie for obvious reasons."

Favorite gift: "I always enjoy new clothes. I'm a clothes horse. I love my clothes."


An aside: For those who are interested, here is a neat "what you need to know about Hanukkah" story from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: Spinning Tales: A Hanukkah Primer. And don't laugh at the graphic. That was the first animated gif I ever made, back in 1997 or so (using Claris Works clip art and a semi-legal copy of Photoshop). It was hot stuff at the time. =)

First day of Hanukkah / Chanukah

Well, for giggles, I thought I'd reprise my online celebration of Hanukkah this year. It conveniently coincides with my two weeks off from work (yes!) and I'm doing one of those "stay-cations" where I take the two weeks to do absolutely nothing except sit on my butt at home (yes!).

For the next 8 nights, I'll try to find some kind of Mathieu-related "gift" to share. So, in honor of the first night of Hanukkah, here is gift number 1.


On Christmas day in 1998, the Star-Ledger (NJ) had an article about Mathieu, the only Jew on the NY Rangers (and one of only three Jewish NHL players at the time) not feeling too left out during the Christmas season. The article is not available at the paper's archives, but I saved the text. See the article archived at the old Unofficial Mathieu Schneider Homepage. In it he talks about how he was a little more bothered as a kid with all the attention around Christmas, but admits that he and his brother would get a present on Christmas anyway.


An aside: For those who are interested, here is a neat "what you need to know about Hanukkah" story from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: Spinning Tales: A Hanukkah Primer. And don't laugh at the graphic. That was the first animated gif I ever made, back in 1997 or so (using Claris Works clip art and a semi-legal copy of Photoshop). It was hot stuff at the time. =)