Sunday, February 26, 2012

Sunday

Well, we played our games, lost two and won one. No championship for us. But we got bragging rights!

In the second game we got walloped! Seriously bad. Zero, six. I played defense which was a kick in the pants (when I got my turn, but that's another story for another day.) We won our third game against our other novice team -- yes, I was assigned to novice, good thing, its where I belong -- so that's where we get the bragging rights.

In the third game I played defense and got a good amount of ice time. I had a great 14-year old D-partner THAT I KEPT UP WITH, and it was all good. I feel like I really got into the game the last two periods and that I could really, really like defense! Really! I also got interviewed by a local newspaper writer and the stuff I said was used in an article in the weekend paper! Yeah, I'm pretty cool. And old. The writer made me give him my age and THEN he published it! I do make a good story, "41 year old non-athlete turned hockey player". That's not really what he wrote, but it could have been.

I'm trying not to think of hockey as nearly being over. But it's true. One more month. Boo.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

The morning after

We lost. Once I got into it, I played alright. I hope the coach doesn't change our lines, I like my forward partner. We've known each other for a long time and even tho it's only my second and her first season playing, I think we did pretty good. I miss my defense partner from the Spokane tournament, tho. I was score keeping for her team last night and she did great. Next year. We'll play together more next year.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Runner

Well, the weather was warm, the sun was shining, I've been itching for an outdoor run for a couple weeks, so I did it. I'm gonna be a little sore tomorrow.

The dog and I definitely have some work to do as far as running together goes. The Lady In Orange definitely has some work to do as far as sharing the trail goes. And ... Well, I felt like I needed a third thing, but I'm stumped. Can't find one.

These pictures are mostly of the Porters Pond area. It's frequently underwater so it was cool to walk out to the normally-submerged parts and take some pictures of the shore.

Hockey, hockey, hockey this weekend! It's the Kiss My Ice tournament. Three games in 19 hours! I can't wait. My team has only played together once, but we'll do okay. It will be fun. I till keep you updated, of course.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Hitched to the Universe

" When we try to pick out anything by itself,
we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."

- John Muir


I've been coming back to this quote a LOT lately.

Especially today.

Yesterday, my day started with a dead 16 year old (second suicide in a small community near my home) and ended with a fatal motor vehicle crash. Lovely day.

I don't know much about the suicide and left work just minutes after dispatching aid crews to the crash. Last I heard there were good Samaritans doing CPR on the crash victim and it didn't look good. When a motorcycle and a vehicle collide there usually isn't a good outcome.

Later, My Honey and I went to his pool league. As they started playing one of the guys came over and asked us to stop and listen up for a minute, they had an announcement. One of their young friends had been killed in a tragic accident. "OMG," I thought, "the suicide." Earlier in the afternoon their young friend had been killed in a motorcycle crash. "Nope, the motorcyclist."

I don't tell a lot of people what I do. I don't like that awkward feeling they get of "does she know about me?" Or the awkward feeling I get of "yeah, I was there for that." I would rather not know. I would rather they not know. So when something like these tragedies becomes public, and I am around,  I wonder how much to say (if I can say anything at all) and who to talk to, or what people who know will say to me. Needless to say I felt weird at the bar last night. For awhile. Then I realized that no one knows me as a dispatcher. They know me as My Honey's Wife That Drinks Mac & Jack.

Still. It was hitched to everything in the Universe.

Today there was another incident involving some folks that are a part of my Universe. Heart breaking situation I'm not sure what to do about. Actually, I can't do anything. I don't really know about it. Love them when they are around. That's all I can do.

This year has been a bit rough on me so far. Thank you, "Compassion" for being my word.
(Yeah, that's totally full of sarcasm.)

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Change of plans

Instead of going to the EMP I took the kids to the Aquarium. Way better choice. We all enjoyed it a lot.

They had two octopus (octopi?) that they are getting ready to release this weekend do they can go out and make some baby octopus.

These were some of my favorite things. The seahorse, jellyfish, octopus, and of course, the kids. They did really, really good. Really. Good.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Outie

I took the dog for a walk, packed me and the kids up, and left for my Dads house yesterday. It's been awhile since we have been.

Fortunately the kids were good in the car, thank you Nintendo DS! The ride was pretty uneventful until the down-side of Snoqualmie Pass. Rain, dark, fog and a very erratic driver. It was too risky for me to even call it in. I watched for him on the side of the road, but somehow he made it.

Today I am going to take the kids downtown for a little Experience Music Project and tram ride. We may also go to the Pacific Science Center, we shall see. I am hoping it will be kind of quiet since all the west side kids are in school.

Heres from my walk:

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Recap

Alright, I think I lied to everyone. I thought we won one, lost one and tied two. But maybe we lost two, and tied two...? I'm not sure. All I know for sure is that our last game was against ourselves (the second team) and we totally had a blast (well, I did) because it didn't matter. Neither team was going to the championship game.

Lets see, highlights?  I skated the puck pretty well a few times. I quit turning away from the puck in the third game.  I realized when T called my name, all I had to do was look at her and she would shoot the puck right. To. Me. Because she is that good. I also had at least 3 good shots on goal (none went in) and there might have been a fourth, but I can't remember for sure. I also got the puck away from one of our intermediate players (yay, me!) and I really played hard against "blue pants" whoever she was. I didn't get far on her, but I tried!

So, our next tourney is the 24-26th and it sounds like we have four teams, one novice, two upper-novice and one intermediate. I think I might get placed on upper-novice, but I don't know for sure. EEK! It's definitely a step up, but after this weekend, I think I can do it.

More about the weekend; my ride was great, it didn't drain every ounce of emotional energy out of me. In fact, I was spot-on about my other ride. She was an energy-suck. You know the kind? You leave their presence and go "what the hell just happened? I need a nap." This ride was energetic, full of great stories and background on a LOT of stuff. My roomie was great. Easy-going and quiet, which I appreciated. She didn't need the TV or music on all the time, and I didn't feel like I needed to be with her 100% of the time. Perfect. It gave me the opportunity to spend some time with lots of others, getting to know a little bit about them. Yes, I have learned at least four peoples' names, AND I have learned a little about them, too!

After our third game, I suggested we find out what color our other team was going to be, and how about we show up on the ice in the same color ... I crack myself up. So we did! With our other jerseys underneath. They also had a surprise in store, they had one of their gals skate out in a prom dress. No joke! It was a carry-over from last year when they all showed up at the "social" dressed to the nines. Remember, the skate rink and community center are the only things in town? HI-LAR-EE-OUS!!! The whole crowd (of 25) loved it. Us in our matching jerseys, our little strip-tease when we changed, and the prom dress. No wonder they invite us back! I guess we made an impression, the tournament coordinator emailed us saying she had some ideas for our "Apples vs Apples" game. (Our team was the Bad Apples, theirs was the Good Apples.)
The social was a blast! Our last game, against ourselves, was at 8pm and then we showered and headed to the community hall for spaghetti dinner. There was dancing -- we have some great dancers on our team -- and a lot of talking and drinking going on. The group I was with cut out at about midnight:30, but I hear that others stayed for a few more hours. We were on the road by 9:30 the next morning and back home fairly early in the afternoon.

All in all a great experience I would definitely do over if I get invited!  If we have women's hockey next season. But that is a story for another time. It's too political for me, because I don't get all the little issues about it, suffice it to say we might lose our rink. It makes me sad, but I am out to enjoy hockey while I have it!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Recovery

Well, we returned home really early yesterday so I really didn't NEED this day off but it sure was nice. I took the dog out for a walk, got a massage and an adjustment, had lunch with my long-lost bestie DW, and then did a little downtown shopping. All-in-all a nice, relaxing recovery day.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Midway - Friday night

We made it to Canada. I had a great car ride up with three of my teammates. Survived the windy, foggy, rainy, snowy road. Right now I'm chilling in my room (alone) listening to the others arrive and get settled. This is a crazy group!

Our venue is in a small town. Maybe more like a village. The only things here appear to be the hotel, a cafe (the kind with a hand painted sign), the. Rink and a community center. I think I'm gonna like it. Right now tho I need to find me a beer.

Toque

I'm the whiskey-drinking toque-wearing hockey player that can pour a mean cuppa coffee. Pretty bad-ass huh? They're calling me "JD" today because I drank whiskey last night. It cracks me up. I think I will just suggest they call me "whiskey".

We have lost our first two games, which pretty much means we don't play in the championship game tomorrow. I'm kind of relieved. Four games will be plenty!

Last nights game was alright. I am playing wing so I had to get my mind into the different position. It took me awhile. I feel bad because I am one of the worst players on our team but I am doing my best I just hate it that I'm not that good.

This mornings game was a little better. I'm finding myself afraid of the boards for some reason and I am finding myself second guessing what to do with the puck. For instance, we were in front of the net (the one we should shoot into) and I hit the puck AWAY from it. What the hell? Another time I was totally in position to get the puck and there wasn't anyone around and I slowed down and I don't know what. The corner was completely open and I choked. I have a lot of self-talk going on out there "skate TO the puck. Don't slow down." Hopedully I can pull it all together by our third game at 5.

But I am having a really great time!

Toque = hat

Friday, February 10, 2012

Just about

Well, apparently a must-have for this trip is solo cups.... I think that means there will be a little bit of drinking going on!!

I made it to practice this morning and then took the dog out. In the rain. Not my favorite walk ever, I'm still a little chilled. The pictures look like it was nice out. It wasn't.


Thursday, February 09, 2012

For today


You see the branch between the two trees? Hardly. You know why? Because it became irrelevant. The trees figured out how to survive around it. And now hardly anyone notices it.
We have been having mindful, deep talks at work lately. This represented one of our talks really well.
I am going to miss this shift when I change in April. Usn's are getting along really well.


I don't know why, but I prefer looking up the stairs.


Yes, she is standing in the water. Brrrrr!

This picture looks a lot cooler than the original actually was. Gotta love editing :)

I got out for a walk after getting the kids off to school.
Now, I need to get the rest of my stuff done to leave town tomorrow!!! :)

My expectation for this trip is very much different than the trip to Spokane. I am not expecting a lot of alone time. I am expecting to feel depleted from getting to know people (in a good way) and I am expecting a fair amount of fun! I also know that I have a day to recover when I get home which helps a LOT!

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Nice

Wow. Looking over my posts I realize I'm not paying attention, or cant see the screen very well, when I use my iPhone to blog. My grammar is horrible! I am missing commas, the spelling is correct, but the wrong word (walker-walk should have been walkIE-walk) and it just reads horribly. I guess that's what happens when I don't get to proof-read. When I am using my first draft. Kind of pathetic.

I'm home with a sick kid today. Hannah woke up coughing so hard she threw up last night so I called out sick. She is low-energy, but not sick-sick. Unfortunately, she was supposed to be in a play this week, today is the first day of rehearsal and I think she isn't going to be able to do it. She is supposed to be a monkey which I assume requires some running around and she just doesn't seem up to it.

Canada is two days away. I have my gear airing out, found my passport, plans to go to the bank for monies tomorrow and I have started a shopping list so the family can survive without me. Speaking of, My Honey did a super great job of surviving without me when I went to Spokane. And a super great job of taking care of me when I got home. I did take Monday off (and now I have today off due to a sick kid) so I am feeling pretty good about getting some stuff done before I go (maybe cleaning the house a little??) and when I get home (I scheduled a massage and chiropractor visit for Monday) which is helping my stress a little.

(About two hours later):

Well she is off to school, the dog is walked and I still have the rest of the day off.  Time to get MY day started I guess.

Sunday, February 05, 2012

A little walker walk

I needed some new scenery do we checked out the canal road. It was kind of icy and not well groomed plus we had to cross several roads and I forgot her leash. It was still pretty and we made it home in time for the Super Bowl game.

I love this quote: "Mom why do the football layers wrestle on the field?" obviously we don't watch much football and not that I care, but I was rooting for the Patriots. Too bad.


Friday, February 03, 2012

Yesterday and today

I was able to get out for a walk yesterday and today. Although it was cold and I don't feel even 50% recovered from last weekend, I did it.

And yes, considering how much the last tournament took out of me, I'm starting to stress about Canada. I think I helped myself out by taking the following Monday off and I don't have two back to back overtime shifts (yeah, maybe I should cut myself a little slack) but I am still stressing.