No Halloween

Just a quick reflection on Halloween this year, or in this instance, lack thereof. We didn't do much for one of my favorite holidays because the kids were all gone and it was just me and mom. I shouldn't say we didn't do much, because with just the two of us we went out to dinner and had a nice evening out, but we didn't do much in the true Halloween spirit. In years past it was a big to-do getting the kids all costumed up and hitting the streets to trick-or-treat. This year, however, N was away at camp, and A was hanging with her crew from school. Both options were much more fun for the kids, and it meant mom and dad didn't have to do much in the way of preparation, which is A-okay by me. We usually end up in the neighboring town where our old lame hockey program resides, so it meant seeing all the people we know from said lame program. Not this year.

We are definitely at that age where the kids don't want to do the same-old, same-old, and they most definitely don't want to be around their boring and embarrassing parents. I can't say I blame them.

Mom and I ended up in the big city and we tried out the local Indian restaurant, Jewel of India, that's been around for over 20 years. They promote themselves at the most popular restaurant in town, which is a bit of a stretch. I like Indian food but it always seems to me to be one step above fast good. When you're dining in NYC, this means it's cheap, but this being the heart of New England and such, it cost a lot more. Somehow I can't wrap my head around expensive Indian food that isn't any different than the cheap stuff you get in NYC or maybe Boston. Sure, if it's gourmet and they do something different with it, great, but this was not the case here. This was more like over-priced food that is a novelty so they can get away with it. It sort of gives you a sense of how provincial it actually is up here.

You see that a lot in this town, mainly because ethnically diverse food is such an anomaly that you pay for the novelty. As ironic as it may seem, eating out up here is so much more expensive than dining out in NYC. Anyway, the food was good but not life altering, and the service wasn't that great. Somehow the guys were abrupt and gave me the impression that I was cramping their style. Plus, while we were eating, the two guys working the front spent the entire time trying to swat a fly that was buzzing around, which didn't do much to fuel my appetite. I guess that's why a lot of people we saw were getting take-out.

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

First Game Back

Now that N's playing for the big city program, we spend a lot more time in the big city... funny how that works. My point is that we don't really have a need to go to the old arena, the home of the old lame program. However, since the big city program's ice rink caters to so many different teams, they have a big shortage of ice. To accommodate this enormous need, the big city program gets ice all over this area, including at the ice rink of our old lame program. This of course meant that it was just a matter of time before we found ourselves back there. This actually happened this past weekend.

First, some background. Our old lame program plays at an ice rink that doesn't get as much usage as it could. Youth hockey has a girls and a boys program, and there are girls and boys high school teams. There are also a few adult leagues that play at night, but that's about it. Consequently, they have huge amounts of ice that go unused, which is not only a waste, but it's not the most ideal financial situation for an arena. Ice rinks are enormously expensive to run, and you hope to fund these costs by selling as many sheets of ice as you can. When we were with our old lame program, there were hours upon hours of unused ice, which doesn't seem economically viable, but what do I know?

On the other hand, the big city program has one ice rink, and there is a huge demand for ice. They are home to much bigger boys and girls youth hockey programs, and they cater to two different high schools, both with a girls and a boys team. AND, in addition to numerous adult leagues, the big city high school has a JV team, unlike the other high school. I've been told some of the adult leagues play from 9:00PM until well past midnight. Is that crazy, or what? They are trying to build a second rink, which is completely justified, but until that happens, it's just the one rink. Personally, I don't know how they manage to accommodate everyone... other than sending people to other ice rinks.

And that's what happened to us. N's team had a game over “there” and I knew it was going to be a little weird seeing some of the people I loathe. Actually, just one person, but he seems to live there. Sure enough, as soon as I walked into the arena, a bunch of the guys were standing there. I said hi to most of them, but when I came to said individual, I said, “Why don't you lie down in front of the Zamboni when they're making ice?” I didn't actually say that, but I sure as heck wanted to.

Truth be told, I did see several people who are still good friends, which means most everyone, and it was nice catching up. Plus, I got to hang out with N's old head coach, AL, who is a very cool guy. We chatted about the state of our old lame program and it reminded me of another good reason why we're not there anymore. I'll leave it at that.

All in all it was fairly uneventful, and N's team won, which is always a good thing. I'm sure we'll end up back at our old rink more than a few times this season, but that's beyond my control and if anything, more fodder for this blog.

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Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Sanghyun Lee for the pic.

Relax but Keep Moving

This may simply be an artifact of getting old, along with poor grooming and an embarrassing lack of a fashion sense, but my bodily pain seems to continually cycle in and out of my life. Just when I think I'm better and home free, something happens to make it crop back up again. As you can imagine, it's a bummer for me, who has to live with it, and a bummer for my family, who have to endure my whining. Then again, it's sort of amusing (at least for them), as well.

I had been pain free for about a year when I went back on the ice and sure enough, I twisted just the wrong way and hurt it again. I couldn't believe it, though I have to shoulder (or back) much of the blame because I have not been as diligent about stretching as I should be. It's a funny thing about getting hurt, you tend to go back to taking your health for granted once you're healthy again.

Well, I'm determined to not take my health for granted, and in the process of enduring more pain, I've learned a couple of things which in retrospect should have been obvious to me. First off, I'll do my stretching, even if it means looking like a big dork in the locker room. Fortunately for me, this will not be out of character. Second thing is to keep moving. I think the impulse is to rest and keep an injury stationary, and on some level this makes perfect sense, but I think it's also important to keep moving. The body has the ability to heal itself but somehow you can't just curl up in your bed and think things will be fine. I've found that moving around, even though it can be painful, aids the healing process.

And finally, I've found that relaxing helps to mitigate the pain in my back. I discovered this while getting into my car - I'm usually very tense in anticipation of the pain. I found, however, that if I just relax and ease up on the tension, the pain is much less, if not gone altogether. It takes some serious mind control to do this, but it makes sense in light of all that we're learning about mindfulness. I'm a believer.

Now I'm sure playing hockey and splitting wood, and eventually skiing, are all potential areas to aggravate my bodily pain, but a real man in training's gotta have a little fun now and then, doesn't he?

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

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Painful Oil Change

We've been having some crazy weather, and I have to say, it's not all to my liking. Case in point, two days ago the rain finally let up and it looked like a nice morning. I figured it would be a good day to change the oil, but as soon as I got the car propped up and oil draining, the wind kicked up and it started to rain. Total bummer. The tarp I lie on and the various funnels and rags got blow all over the place, and needless to say I had a few choice words of angst regarding my situation, though I'll spare you the details. Looking at the bright side, the rain was just a drizzle, though everything did get wet. I managed to change the oil, nonetheless, and brought everything inside the house and set it by the fire to dry.

I still need to change the oil on mom's car, but this weather just won't seem to let up. I'm looking forward to two consecutive days of dry weather. It doesn't even have to be warm, I'd just like some sunshine and less humidity. Clearly this is asking too much.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to william3345 for the pic.

A Very Big Storm

I'm not sure where this storm came from, but we got slammed earlier in the week with a big one. I know people who are still without power, which is a complete bummer. I think the storm arrived on Sunday night, and I had no idea it was going to be so serious. In fact, I slept right through it. Both mom and A said they were up all night because the wind was so loud and menacing, and couldn't believe it didn't wake me up. Mom even said she could hear trees being knocked over by the wind. Those are some serious conditions when that happens.

I actually woke up around 4:00AM because the lights were flickering, and then the power died. This made getting ready for the day a bit of a challenge, to say the least. Not being able to flush the toilet can have serious ramifications, especially if you're a morning person like me. A and I had to get ready for school with no electricity, though we were well prepared with fresh water and plenty of flashlights (and lanterns). In fact, all things considered, things went reasonably smoothly. I was even able to make fruit salad.

By the time we got to school, power was restored at the college, and when I called mom around 9:00, she said the power was back on at home. We really lucked out on this one because our power was only out for a few hours. As I mentioned, there are people who still don't have power, and I'm grateful that ours came back on. The drive to school was an interesting one, as well, because there was plenty of debris on the roads, and traffic lights were out all over town. Throw in the incessant driving winds and stormy conditions, and it was surreal, to say the least. I don't think we got an inordinate amount of rain, but I'd read that some towns were flooded, so it was some serious stuff, not unlike a hurricane.

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

Switching Hands

Cementing his genius status, N had a brilliant idea that had me scratching my head and asking the age-old question, why didn't I think of that? I recently had a bout with what I believe was poison ivy on my left wrist - boy, there's always something wrong with me, isn't there? I have no clue where I contracted it, but it was probably from lifting the firewood blocks just before splitting them, and you just never know what's growing on that wood. The situation wasn't horrible, just annoying, and what made it worse was that it was on my watch hand. Every time I wore it, it would rub on the irritated skin and make it itch. It was driving me crazy.

Of course, not being one to suffer in silence, I was complaining about my malady to my kids when N said to just wear my watch on my other hand. Whaaat? I practically knocked myself out slapping my forehead and saying, “Why didn't I think of that?”

It just goes to show you, you're never too old to learn, or in my case, when you're at the bottom of the intellectual ladder, you got nowhere else to go but up.

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

Surfing Reflections

I hate to admit this but I think we're done with surfing this year. It's just getting too cold, and being the softie that I am, the idea of getting out of the cold ocean water into the colder air just has no appeal to me. Maybe one day I'll be tougher, but I seriously doubt that. I know plenty of people who surf year-round, but clearly they are more of a man (or woman) than me.

Despite the disappointment of the surfing season coming to an end, I have to say that it was a good year, simply by virtue of the fact that we went and did it. As was meticulously described in this blog, this was no easy feat because it required getting wetsuits, booties, and eventually gloves, and of course, surfboards... for three people. Then, the hardest part, was just motivating to get into the car and hitting the beach. I'm happy to say that we not only did it, but weren't completely discouraged and are on our way to the surfing life. I give the kids credit for sticking with it, because it ain't easy. Then again, with greater challenge comes greater reward.

I think we all have a ways to go before we shred, but we are definitely on that path. As I've mentioned in the past, it makes for a more enjoyable summer, and dare I say that I'm actually looking forward to what was in the past my least favorite season.

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Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Bengt Holm for the pic.