Still Going Strong

Now I know this is not a topic of discussion between my real-men hockey friends, but the flowers we got mom for Valentine's Day are still going strong and dare I say, looking amazing. It's been 11 days and counting, and if anything, they look better than ever. They're blooming, and smell great. Even our cat Dusty goes nuts over them and constantly wants to be near them. That's kind of cool, isn't it?

In the past I've given R flowers that lasted a few days, max, and even then, they don't always open up. More often than not, they just die and wilt as buds. I know it's the thought that counts, but sometimes it's a bonus when thing work out nicely.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Divine Intervention?

How’s this for a tale of divine intervention, or should I say a sign of things that were meant to be? I’ve been playing hockey (playing is a stretch) for about 3 months now, and I’ve managed to scrounge together from various sources, which includes friends and the fabulous Listen Center. I’ve found that if you stop by the Listen every week, you can score a gem now and then, but it’s really a luck of the draw. Mostly it’s complete junk, it’s amazing they even try to sell that stuff, but if you’re persistent, you can find great deals on stuff that is in good condition.

Now when we first ventured into playing hockey, I never imagined that I would actually play on an organized level, so naturally it didn’t really matter what sort of equipment I had. As you play more and more and interact with players who really know what they’re doing, you begin to realize that some things do matter, and even if they don’t, you don’t want to seem like a complete loser with old, second hand stuff that looks like junk. I seem to manage to look like a loser no matter what, but that’s beside the point.

A good example of this was my hockey stick. I got it a couple of years ago at the Listen for five bucks, and it’s worked fine. I even got a thumbs up from DF for having a “classic,” in his words, which probably meant it was so old that you couldn’t buy the thing new if you wanted to. It worked fine for moving pucks and doing an occasional slapshot, but eventually it became clear to me that the thing was a dinosaur, and people even started to make fun of it. Now I know I shouldn’t care what people think, especially since the hockey world is filled with real men who don’t tolerate sissies, but I started to feel a little embarrassed, I don’t deny it. I even toyed with the idea of getting a new stick. I went to Stateline and asked the guy if it really made a difference and he looked at me and said, “What are you, a sissy?”

I began asking around and getting a new stick became my new favorite OCD topic. I looked around at what everyone was using, and noticed that a lot of old-schoolers definitely opt for wood, while not too many people under the age of 40 use wood but instead go for the composite. Now I know nothing about sticks, but had set my mind on the fact that if I was going to get a new stick, I wasn’t going with wood, even though people I respect and admire all swear by it. I was going synthetic or bust.

The biggest stumbling block was cost. Wood is cheaper, but it’s wood, and as I mentioned, I wasn’t going to get wood. Synthetic or more specifically composite sticks can easily cost you over $100, and I know most dedicated hockey players wouldn’t even give a second thought to dropping that kind of cash. Not me, as many of you might know, especially my Mentor.

Either way, it was on my mind, but I wasn’t ready to take the plunge. Things have a funny way of working out, however, and the clouds parted and a sign came raining down on me at the open stick. I was in the process of digging the puck out from along the boards when I whacked the puck and guess what happened - my stick broke. I felt like a real hockey player, it was kind of cool, but best of all, I was going to need a new stick, especially since there was under 14 open stick that afternoon. One of my friends even said that I’d earned a new stick by now. Say no more.

I went home and showed the kids, who got a huge kick out of my ersatz display of hockey prowess, and we headed straight over to Stateline to get dad a new stick. Of course I didn’t get crazy and kept it way under $100. We then hopped in the car I had A&N tape it up while I drove over to UA for under 14 open stick. They did a great job.

I have to confess that I like my new stick. It makes me feel like Joe Sakic, and I now play just like him. Amazing what a difference a new stick can make, especially when it's a composite, or at least looks like a composite.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Vince Petaccio for the pic.

Final HS Hockey?

We played homeschool hockey last week and I’m thinking that may have been our last one. It’s a great group but we’ve been pretty immersed in hockey and maybe a small step back wouldn’t be a bad idea. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for hockey, but it can be all consuming, and I feel like I’m forcing the kids into it, even though they say otherwise.

Anyway, with hockey every other day of the week, taking a break one day wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Plus, it’s not that cheap. I seem to drop loads of cash each month to attend, I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it seems a bit steep. I applaud the group for organizing it, they do a great job. I’ll leave it at that.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to the Boston Public Library for the pic.

Funny How Things Work Out

We had a great time a couple of weekends back at the Dartmouth hockey game, and it serendipitously turned out really nicely without any planning. In fact, it was completely happenstance how things transpired. Now we normally go to the hockey games fairly regularly, it’s a fun night out in the big city and where we can eat Boloco burritos, hot dogs and churros, and even see friends with the same game plan as us, no pun intended. This time around there was a big crowd of people we knew from hockey, and it worked out beautifully.

At first I couldn’t figure out why they were there en masse, all wearing their team jerseys. I thought maybe I’d missed an email or something before I realized it was the older kids who were together. A has some friends on the team, and she went over right away, and a lot of those players have siblings on N’s team, but he was a bit more pensive. I think it was because he didn’t have his jersey he felt a little out of place, but he had his hat on, and that should have been enough.

Either way, he held back a little and sat with us, which is a little heartbreaking because you could tell he wanted to go over and hang with his buddies rather than his stiff and boring parents. We kept encouraging him to go over, but he stood his ground and wouldn’t budge. It was going to take something big to get him to join the party. Well, soon enough, that moment arrived when his buddies came over and told him to come over and sit with them. Without a moments hesitation he was gone. It’s moments like that that remind you what being a parent is all about.

I think the kids had a blast, and it was nice seeing our friends outside of our typical environment, i.e., hockey. Then again, that’s not true, we were at a hockey game. Either way, it was a lot of fun, and it really came out of nowhere.

As a parent, you live for these moments. Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Phillip Worsnop for the pic.

Meeting Friends at Open Stick

Being that hockey fanatic that I am, I’ve been going fairly regularly to the adult open stick and I’m starting to see some friends there. KB started showing up because he’s playing in the adult league and wants to get some practice in, and DS is coming, as well. I’d heard he played and was good, but had never seen him play or for that matter, skate. He came to the last OS and he is in fact a good player. Plus, he’s not your quintessential brute hockey player, he’s more of a skilled gentlemanly player. Definite Lady Byng candidate.

Since we’re neighbors, we’re even carpooling to the rink. It makes for a good time, and chatting with hockey players is a great way to learn about equipment and skills, because sometimes I’m too intimidated to ask the big guys for advice for fear of seeming like a big dork.

Then again, it may be too late for that. Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Johnny :D for the pic.

Impromptu Spontaneity and Getting Crazy

CH and I are always talking about how we’d like to be more spontaneous and do things without so much darn planning, which is like pulling teeth for the likes of us, but we’re working on it. In fact, sometimes we even get a little crazy.

Case in point, last week CH called us out of the blue and asked if we wanted to go to a performance in Woodstock, and there was no planning involved (this is huge for us). How's that for living life on the edge? I was invited, as well, but had to go to work in the AM. I was planning on working, then jetting home to attend the show because I enjoy hanging with the Hs, but it was really too ambitious on my part because the show was at 10:00, and that meant I would have had to have finished my work by 9:00. No such luck.

It worked out beautifully because the kids had a blast, got to hang with friends and see a show about Thomas Edison (an academic event, as well), and even saw some of their hockey buddies at the theater. When they dropped A&N off at home, the kids hung out for a few minutes and I got to chat with my buddy CH before they were off. All in all, a nice day for everyone, and hopefully we’ll be able to arrange them more often... without too much planning, of course, because that would defeat the purpose, right?

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to topio for the pic.

A Series of Unfortunate Incidences

Is this another setback for my glorious freelance writing career, or just another reason to bite the bullet and work harder?

Then again, it’s hard not to look at this as unfortunate timing, or maybe someone’s just trying to tell me something. I have been trying to dabble in freelance writing so I can make enough dough to support our fabulously opulent lifestyle, but am not completely clued in as to where to begin. Some of my ideas just haven’t panned out, while others are still brewing. I decided to target some magazines but had to come up with story ideas, first. Like everything in my life, it’s complicated, and I had to think of an assortment of story ideas, big and small.

Anyway, the first two story ideas I had was to profile some local businesses, but when I contacted them about my ideas, they kept blowing me off. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and was patient, but when I finally heard from them, one of them had already been profiled, and the other was going out of business. We had even seen the latter business just days before my inquiry. Talk about a bummer.

Oh well, back to the drawing board. I’m not for want of ideas, so I have to just keep my feet moving. Stay tuned for more.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to bogdog Dan for the pic.