librarygrrrl.net

PLACES VISITED

Seattle, WA (ALA Midwinter, Educause)
Vermont (some little town for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing)
Fitchburg, MA (hockey tournament)
Burlington, VT (hockey tournament)
Waterville, ME (visited great friends)
Minneapolis, MN (cousin’s wedding, post-surgery assistance, Thanksgiving, Christmas)
Bourne, MA (hockey tournament)
Washington, DC (ALA Annual)
Hanover, NH (Dartmouth hockey camp)
Walpole, ME (lobster bake)
Western MA (camping trip)

BESTS

Non-Fiction Book

The Game by Ken Dryden

You’d be surprised that a former professional hockey player could write such a good book, but this is no ordinary hockey player. This is a hockey player who took time off from his pro career - with his team’s blessing - to get his law degree. Well worth reading.

Fiction Books

Keeping the World Away by Margaret Forster
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin

Movie

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Amy and I only saw a handful of movies in the theater this year. I think we need to get out a bit more. Even my grandma has seen more movies this year than we did!

Online experience

Ravelry & Twitter

Like Amanda, Ravelry was the best online community I joined this year, although Twitter is a close second.  The first keeps me involved in a knitting community, even though I’ve been having a hard time maintaining knitting mojo this year. The second keeps me connected with many of my online librarian friends as we go through our daily lives.

Thing I did for myself

Kept a resolution

This year, I stayed in therapy and really started making some progress on understanding this crappy thing known as depression. Whatever I may have thought in the past, this year I realize that my depression isn’t going away, is chronic, requires medication to keep it under control, and is incredibly common.  One (big-name) blogger wrote what is, to me, one of the most eloquent posts on living with depression. You ought to read it.

Things I did with Amy

Exercised! And ate!

We went snowshoeing in Vermont and played in many, many hockey games and tournaments and clinics. And we went to L’Espalier for our first anniversary dinner. Yum!

Person I Met

Small People Rule!

This week I met John David, my godson Alex’s little brother, my best friend Nan’s youngest son. He’s one of those patented “deception babies.” He’s so easy that childless people who meet him think “Huh, this kid thing isn’t that hard after all!” Then they go and have kids who are normal and feel deceived by him.
Hockey Milestones

Firsts

My first goal was on 12/9/07, when we were playing with NH Panthers against MIT. I also got my first (I think) assist that game too.

All in all, 2007 was a pretty good year. The 2007 resolution review and the 2008 list of resolutions will come tomorrow.

I present my funny beasts in snow that’s deep.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

(If the video doesn’t show on your reader, pop on over to the web page to watch. It’s funny!)

We only have a few toys out at any given time, since there sometimes is toy jealousy and toy boredom in this household. The ball below is one of Maggie’s favorites (it’s the third one I’ve purchased for her since she’s been living with me.) For the past several months it’s been in the dog toybox in the front porch. We brought it in a couple of nights ago.

Pure chewing bliss.

No guarding issues here, NO SIREE!

Nope, not a single toy jealousy issue in THIS house! Nope, not a one.

Petulant and annoyed.

Well shit.

Short story: we sucked.

Longer story: we really sucked.

Final score was 1-2; I managed to be neutral for the night on scoring (out there when they scored their first CRAP goal and out there when Denise and Lib hooked up for a goal that was just like the one I scored earlier in the day.)

The best part of the game? Going out for beers afterwards with STP, Steph!TP, Amy, Lynn, and Action Jackson. Lib, wish you could have joined us.

Anyhow, tomorrow’s another day, and next week another Black Ice team will show up for the game.

Amy and I subbed for the Nashua, NH Panthers today as they played MIT. They are the only team in the world which has more defense than wingers and centers, so I ended up playing wing today. My wing partner was a woman named Sophy - also normally a defender.

Final score was 2-4; MIT managed to put a couple more in the net than we did. The periods were 18 (EIGHTEEN!) minutes long each, and they made ice between the second and third periods. It was just like “a real hockey game” as one of the Panthers put it.

Those 2 goals we got? One of them was my first one EVER. First period, we’re in their end, and I just set up on the far post. Kim (I think that’s her name) laced the puck through all their defenders and drew their goalie to the ground on her side. I was there waiting, and just popped it into the wide-open net.

The second goal came in the third period. MIT had the puck in our end and coughed it up (literally, into the air) near the blue line. Amy used her entire body to knock it down, and passed to me as I was heading down the ice into their end. I drove hard down the left side of the ice, pushed hard into the middle as we got about the middle of the circle, and passed to the center of the ice in front of the net where Amy was driving hard, and Paula (my third-period wing partner) was following. It was a bit too far behind Amy for her to pick it up, but Paula was there and flicked it in. Assist: Megan.

So I’ve gotten a taste of scoring and I like how it feels. I doubt Steph!TP will let me skate up, but this gave me a real dose of confidence in driving to the net if/when I can. And in 4 hours I may just have the chance to put it into action, as we’ve got a Black Ice game against the team we share practice ice with, the Raging Storm.