Hey everyone-

I signed up to participate in the Caps Blood Drive at KCI on November 21, but I will now be out of town that weekend, so I wanted to see if anyone wants my slot. My appointment is for 8:30 am, and according to an ad on the radio yesterday, all 500 slots are filled, so if you want to: 1) donate for a worthy cause; and 2) earn some free Caps swag, then let me know and we can work out the timing so you can jump into my slot online.

Since I am relatively new to the wonderful world that is the Rink and all the rabid Caps fans that inhabit it, I thought I would poach an idea from another favorite SB Nation site of mine, Ian Casselberry's Bless You Boys, and start an open thread to introduce myself to everyone and hope that others would do the same. I read the Rink every day during the season and quite a bit in the off-season, so I first have to thank JP, Pepper, DMG, and all the other regulars who help us maintain our (un)healthy obsession with everything on the Caps.

My name is Riley, and I'm a native of the Alexandria/Arlington area. I was indoctrinated into life as a Caps fan by my dad when we spent a week vacationing in the Shenandoahs and he spent most of the evening trying to get a Caps-Rangers game to be visible on the old black-and-white set in the cabin. Since then, we have suffered through a multitude of regular season victories, playoff disappointments (I still have nightmares from watching Jagr skating over, around, and through Caps players during the 7-1 loss in Game 6 of the 1995 playoffs), and moments where we would bemoan our lack of a night-in, night-out, point-per-game scorer (with all apologies to Peter Bondra). As a result, I can hardly contain my excitement over the current team, and I still shake my head and wonder how we got so lucky when I watch AO work his magic on a nightly basis. I can't wait for next season to begin, and I look forward to sharing the ride with all of you here at the Rink. Cheers.