Massive Snow

It might not be Quebec, but we’re getting there. We woke a couple of weeks back to a massive snowfall that came down the night before while we were sleeping. When we went to bed, there was a decent layer of snow on the ground, but at some point during the evening it must have really come down because it looked like two feet of snow on the ground.

Naturally the kids were thrilled, and spent a couple of hours in the snow doing amazing things. It’s nice that A isn’t too old (not yet) to get out and have fun with N, though that time is approaching. Such is the life of adolescents.

It looks amazingly beautiful out here, a winter wonderland if there ever was one, and it finally looks like winter in New England. It also means that the skiing is good, but more on that later

Until then, thanks for reading.

Schoolhouse Rock

It’s crazy to think that with all this hockey, there are other things in life going on, as well. The kids have been doing school work all year long, and when you begin a grade, you can’t imagine that you’ll ever get through it. Then, several months later, you’ve gotten through it.

I only bring this up because both A&N are cruising along their respective grades, or should I say, closing out this year? One thing I’ve noticed about homeschooling is you can finish a school year, do about a month of review, and then move onto the next grade. The goal is not to accelerate the kids, but left to their own devices, they tend to learn at a faster clip than what you see in school. For N, this is particularly gratifying because he was so resistant to doing school work and always put up a fight.

Now he not only willingly does his work, but he often does more than is asked of him, and will even be motivated to the point where he doesn’t feel he can begin his day without finishing his assignments. How cool is that? Enough to bring a tear to my eye. Don’t get me wrong, given the choice he’d much rather be outside playing or watching TV, but we’ve come a long way from the early days of doing battle and butting heads... not that that doesn’t still happen. It’s just a lot less frequent.

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

Feeling Weary

A’s hockey season will continue onto the championship weekend, and I think her team is the favorite to win it all. N’s team, on the other hand, lost last weekend and their season effectively ended. I think the kids had a good attitude about it all, they were a little bummed, as they should be, but they also took it in stride and moved on with their lives immediately, again, as they should.

Looking back on it, it’s amazing N’s team even made it that far. A’s team has won all season and has been, probably from the get-go, the favorite to win it all. N’s team, on the other hand, lost the first 10-12 games, and never really recovered to have a winning season. By the time the state tournament rolled around, they were suddenly a force to contend with, and won all three games of the preliminary round to make it to the next round. There, they won all three games to qualify for the semifinals, which was an impressive feat considering the season they had.

Time caught up with them, however, and in the semifinals, they were beaten by what was a better team, no question. They played great, but N’s team is simply at a huge disadvantage in that they have several players who would have been better off playing on a house team, or someplace where they could first learn how to play hockey. I’m guessing some of them had never played before, and some seemed to have never skated before. A house team is a kinder, gentler program where they can learn the basics before making the jump into a travel program.

Whatever be the case, when you go up against a team with 5 solid players on the ice, you don’t stand a chance. They put up a valiant effort, but the writing was on the wall. It was a lot of fun, and I think the kids did a great job out there, but it was emotionally draining. The last couple of weeks of hockey are always a marathon, and it’s not even over. There is still spring hockey and more tournaments.

I have to admit to feeling a little weary. I know several families who are getting ready for the next stage of hockey, which can go well into summer, which is crazy when you think about it. I’m ready to get my tennis racket out. I’m glad N has his new mountain bike, and I think we’ll do some riding as soon as the snow melts.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Darcy Knoll for the pic.

New Focus

As much as I love hockey, I feel like we need to find a new focus in life. I think it’s great the kids love the game so much, but part of that is the social aspect. Both kids have made a lot of friends through the game, and they have that one common bond that helps them relate. Sports, at least in my opinion, are limited in how much they can hold a friendship together. At some point something more substantial needs to connect two people. When I was a kid, my best friends played sports, but somehow we had much more in common than just a game. If anything, we all played different sports and had different interests, we just went to school together and somehow connected.

I think that’s what’s happening with A. She enjoys hockey but would enjoy another sport just as much if she was surrounded by her friends. Hockey just requires total dedication and a lot of time, so it affords her an opportunity to solidify her friendships. The fact that she’s pretty good helps to give her some clout, and she’s a very sociable person. Consequently, she’s made some good friends, and has even made a best friend.

N is a little more complicated. Maybe it’s a boy thing, but he’s a little more reserved, and tends to sit quietly on the sidelines and watch. He benefits from being a good athlete, so he earns credibility from his peers, but that’s not always a foundation for long term friendship. I was a athlete in school, and hung out with jocks, and looking back on it, I never really felt a close connection to any of those guys, especially the alpha-male leaders. I had a similar experience being in a frat in college, and wonder why I put myself into these situations.

Either way, I think with N it’s great that he loves sports and we will support him in any way as long as he enjoys it, but I wouldn’t mind steering him in other directions. I’m thinking something more cerebral and thoughtful that he can immerse himself in and find other kids that think and operate like he does. As good as he is at sports, I don’t think he fits the jock mold. I could be projecting my own neurosis (what else is new?), but the jock crowd is filled with aggressive and vindictive guys who can be bullies and treat women poorly. Being a sensitive and thoughtful person doesn’t always bode well in that environment. I know this from firsthand experience.

Besides, as much as I want him to enjoy sports, I don’t want him to become a “jock” who can’t think for himself and goes along with whatever the crowd does. Even though these are the kind of guys who go on to become CEOs of big companies, I would rather that he think for himself and chart his own course. Plus, hockey gets so fanatical, and I succumb to it, even though I look at it like complete insanity.

With that in mind, we begin the search for N’s new gig. Truth be told, I think it will somehow involve computers, because he, like very kid his age, is fascinated by them. This process, however, will not include video games or social networking, but something more along the lines of programming or computer science. Then again, when you embark on a journey of discovery, you have to keep your mind open to all the possibilities.

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

Gaining Perspective

Several years back we ran into some drama with some friends of ours and I still look back on it with a sour taste in my mouth. I am convinced there was some spite and malice involved in the other party, mainly the mom, and believe me when I tell you that this goes beyond conspiracy theory.

Either way, life goes one, and A was the only one who had a level head and didn’t make a big deal out of it. Kudos to her for her dignity and pride, even though as a parent I felt outraged. Then again, it’s good to know who you’re dealing with for future interactions.

Fast forward to today, and one of the girls on her team had a birthday party and didn’t invite A. This would not have been an issue if she hadn’t invited all the older girls on the team, thereby making it apparent that A was being excluded. Was this intentional? Who can say, but is sure seemed deliberate, and this girl definitely has a mean and vindictive streak in her and has targeted other girls for various reasons. Just a Mean Munchkin (MM), which is an appropriate moniker if there ever was one.

Anyway, we found out about the birthday through third-party channels, and as usual, I was so bummed. A, on the other hand, was so level headed, and didn’t make a big deal out of it. Now I have to acknowledge that A might not (probably) doesn’t get along with the MM. Then again, it’s generally acknowledged by people that know the MM that she’s mean, and also accepted by objective third party observers (i.e., not me) that A is not a mean kid.

One of the very-involved parents supports both these notions, and passed along the theory that the MM doesn’t like A because A is one of the few girls that stands up to her and defends the targets of her wrath. Being A’s father, of course I prefer this theory.

Whatever be the case, after ruminating and torturing myself over this, I talked it over with R and obtained some perspective, and in the end, it’s probably not all that I’ve made it out to be. Sure, I do think there was some deliberate thought to excluding A, but girl in question has every right to invite whom she pleases. Also, as I mentioned, why would she invite someone she doesn’t get along with?

The problem arises when that person is my daughter, but I also don’t want to make a big deal about it if A is okay with it, and she is. What complicated this whole situation was that A was having a friend over for a sleepover, and that friend was going to the party. After the party, we had planned on going to the HS hockey game, and the entire b-day party was going, as well. Talk about bad timing. However, A wanted to go, she didn’t care about the party, and I was proud of her for not making an issue out of this and wanting to just move on. She didn’t have any hard feelings to the MM, either. Talk about a Zen Master, what a cool kid she is.

There’s more to this story, but for now I’ll leave it at that. Thanks for reading, and thanks to Dianne Collins for the pic.

Second Day of Hockey

As much as I love hockey, sometimes I wonder if it’s too much pressure on the kids to win when we have these big tournaments that focus so much on being the best. Does it really matter? The hockey powers seem hypocritical in that they stress having fun and discourage intense competition, and then set up these situations where kids feel disappointed and at times devastated.

Then again, winning and losing are good lessons to learn, and ones they’ll experience throughout their lives, so maybe it’s better to learn them in sports in preparation for when you experience them in life. Whatever be the case, we had a great weekend of hockey, mainly because the outcomes were in our favor. The fact that we are playing again this weekend was completely dependent upon how we did this past weekend, and suffice it to say we did well.

There were 15 teams vying to play in the next round, and they had to whittle that group down to 8. Our odds were decent, but we approached it by wanting to do the best we could, especially in light of how we did all season, which was pretty poorly. In case you’re just tuning in, we lost a majority of our games all season, and it wasn’t until the last quarter that we actually started winning some games. Truth be told, we probably played opponents that were above our level (clearly this was the case), and now the tournament, we are seeded with teams that are more on our level. Maybe having a tough schedule was good in that it prepared us for this situation.

Last weekend was going to be a challenging one because we were playing teams that controlled us all season. We managed to win all of our games and advance, which was really cool. The kids are excited, the parents are excited, and we get to play one more weekend of hockey. Of course, this coming weekend will determine if we make it to the championship game, and I like to think that it’s cool we made it this far and that the outcome doesn’t matter.

I may have to keep reminding myself of this. Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Katherine Abrahams for the pic.

Scraping to Watch the Olympics

How do you watch the Olympics when you don’t have a TV or cable subscription? Painfully, that’s how. Aside from the occasional fortuitous timing of catching it in a hotel lobby or an appliance store, you’re out of luck. We tried a VPN connection that allowed us to connect with an international carrier, thereby bypassing domestic NBC blocking, but that didn’t work out so well. With the VPN connection we were able to stream onto Canadian (CBC) and even British (BBC) networks, and could have utilized any country in the world, but the connections were terrible.

This past weekend we watched a bit on TV during a break in N’s hockey tournament, but that was short-lived, and the kids got bored pretty quickly. Finally a friend of ours who is a techie told us about a way to connect through the internet and basically watch international TV, i.e., watch normal broadcast TV from another country. In this case, it’s Canada.

It was a little involved in terms of tweaking our network settings, which I am not totally comfortable with, but decided to give it a try. Lo and behold, it worked, and we have been able to watch the Olympics. The other night we watched ice dancing, and yesterday we watched women’s hockey and bobsledding. Then last night the kids watched acrobatic ski jumping, which I know speaks to N’s heart. It’s cool to watch the Olympics, but truth be told, I am somewhat ambivalent about them, and always have been. When I was a kid, I didn’t pay much attention to the Olympics, especially the Winter Olympics, save a for a few events. I wasn’t even that interested in hockey back then.

Now I find the spectacle more entertaining, and think it’s nice for the kids to see. On the whole, I could take it or leave it, which works out well when you don’t have TV.

Anyway, the kids are interested in certain events, and it is rather entertaining watching Canadian TV. The commercials are different, and the coverage is more objective, not all flash and rock-and-roll like American coverage. There are times the CBC covers banal and mundane activities, like crews preparing the field for competition, or the audience sitting in the stands. This is in marked contrast with the American approach, which would never show that stuff and would fill every available moment with something entertaining. Anything to boost ratings. I’m guessing CBC is like the BBC, state run and not as profit-oriented, so they can afford to do what they want. I could be wrong.

For now, we can follow the games, and we’ll probably watch more hockey and skiing, which we enjoy. We may even catch the closing ceremony, which we haven’t seen in the past two or three Olympics. It could be interesting.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to MakeMy UK for the pic.