I don’t write about work, which cuts out 1/3 of my life for blog fodder. Given that I sleep for another 1/3, you only get to see 1/3 of my life in here. And that 1/3 is taken up by:

• playing hockey
• playing with the dogs
• reading books
• watching hockey
• doing housework

The only remotely interesting blog-fodder in there is playing hockey (sometimes playing with dogs) (but not reading, since I really don’t like to write book reviews.) I’m not sure that I’m going to do NaBloPoMo next November. My life will have had to change some if I’m going to, since I don’t really want to put up some of the filler posts I put up this year.

Maybe I’ll make a New Year’s Resolution to blog more routinely in 2009, rather than doing a full month of posting. Possibly a twice-a-week schedule would be good… given that I’ve usually got one hockey game a week, finding something to say in the other post shouldn’t be quite as hard.

That feels okay. Let’s see if I can pull it off!

a. think about karaoke the same way again
b. think about flossing the same way again
c. hear the name “Brunhilde” without hearing/seeing it as “Broomhilde” in my head

It was a pretty funny Thankgiving weekend, to say the least.

Amy and I made it home safe and sound after a great 60 hours in Minnesota. We got to see my godparents and their family, as well as my grandmother. We ate a boatload of sushi with my folks last night. We watched some hockey with my dad. We spent time talking with my folks and just generally having a good time. Happy Thanksgiving weekend to us.

The dogs were happy to see us come home, but again, weren’t too happy so we know they had a good time with the woman who took care of them. The house is happy. And Sarah managed to muck around with the t.v. enough so that the HD is now full-screen, instead of with the black bands at the top and bottom. I’ve been trying to figure that one out for almost a year now - very happy to have the answer.

Tomorrow is the last day of this NaBloPoMo. I suspect I’ll blog about hockey, as per usual on Sundays. Hope we do well, since I think we’re playing one of the B-level teams tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Tonight we’re off to have dinner out with my folks, and perhaps we’ll catch the Holidazzle parade. Depending on how much we all feel like being outside at night… And tomorrow we go back to Boston. It’s been a quick trip, but a good one.

We’re here in Minnesota, per tradition, and are getting ready to drive up to Wisconsin for our annual Thanksgiving gathering with my godparents and their family. The weather is grey out, but it’s neither snowing nor sleeting, so the drive should be pretty reasonable. And then we get to see everyone and eat yummy food and play games and play with my god-cousin’s kids! I can’t wait.

With that, have a great day.

Photo courtesy of Jennifer13. Used under a Creative Commons license.

My power turns are getting better, although there’s still a ton of room for improvement. Like Amy, my turns on one side are stronger and on the other side are incredibly uneven. My shooting is okay when I actually think about my form - otherwise I have these dinky little bloopers that all goalies can stop easily (i.e. almost every shot I made last night). My passing is definitely improving. And my puck possession, while still among the weaker of folks on the team, is improving. Niki turned to me at one point last night and summed up what I was thinking: “I’m so much more comfortable wtih all this now than I was at the beginning of the season!” With miles to go before we achieve perfection…

But there were two moments last night that gave me real boosts in confidence.

The first was when we were playing 3-on-3. My team went up against the team with one of the coaches on it - the coach who’s about 6′4″, has a wingspan that goes from here to Montana, and who skates incredibly fast. We played several rounds against them, with a break in-between for the other 2 teams to play. After our last round, he skated over to me and told me I’d done a really good job. While he didn’t point out anything in particular that I’d done well, just the act of noticing and commenting was a real confidence-booster.

The second moment came as we were almost ready to get off the ice. A few of us had been shooting on Renee, and as usual she was stopping pretty much everything. I don’t think I’d put one past her all night long (even when I sat on her during one drill - this is what happens when you ask defenders to act as wings and screen the goalie - we lose our sense of space, get in the crease, and sit on people… anyway!) In fact, I know that I’d put at least 10 shots into her pads, and at least 10 more into her belly. My shooting form just wasn’t on last night. But at the very end of practice, I remembered something that someone told me a couple of years ago: “Don’t look at where the goalie is, look at where the net is and then shoot at the net.” So I came in to the high slot, saw open net above Renee’s left shoulder, and ripped one up there. It’s nice to know that even when I’m having a hard time with something (like shooting), just doing it right once makes all the difference.

Then all went to the locker room and KP made me, Amy, and Libby die laughing with some unintentional humor. That’s always the best kind! Happy Summer Solstice everyone!

Silly little dog. Fortunately, through the miracle of olive oil and a really nasty smelling (but apparently incredibly tasty) dog treat crumbled up and mixed into a bowl of dog food, we’re all good now.

Of course, she’s punishing us right now by not hanging with us in the living room. Silly little dog!

P.S. Hi KP! Don’t forget: January comes before summer most years.

Powerbars taste like crap.

Advil does not work for your headaches; Tylenol or Excedrin do.

Unintentional hilarity is the best kind. Don’t be the person who’s unintentionally hilarious though.

Go to IKEA to get several more GOSIG KANIN toys (aka “buuuuuunny” who Otter loves).

Programming home voice mail number into cell phone is a smart idea.

Milwaukee airport does not have free wireless (fie on you!) so be sure to download stuff to read before flying on Wednesday.

Midwest Airlines - for all their fabulousness in terms of chocolate chip cookies - charges for baggage, so pack lightly and don’t check a bag on Wednesday.

Kick the dogs out of bed when you’re really tired or you will wake up with cricks in your body.

Check your twitter account when you want to track headaches. You tweet about them a fair amount.

Use the word “unglued” more often to describe behavior of those who act that way.

The three they got - well, I’m not proud of the fact that I was on the ice for two of them. And the third goal was the worst. I thought our goalie had it and told her “you’ve got it! you’ve got it!” As it turns out, the black disk I thought I was looking at in her pads wasn’t the puck, but was part of her pads. I know they’re new pads and all, but I wonder if she’d let me paint them some wacky color so I don’t ever make that mistake again… (just kidding, Renee!)

Those two goals notwithstanding, there were a couple of INCREDIBLY LONG shifts Kristine and I played in our defensive zone where the Ice Sharks didn’t score. Thank the FSM for that. At the end of the first, I think we did close to a 3-minute shift. Never in a game have I seriously considered throwing up; tonight was different.

Two things that jump out about tonight that I need to work on:

• better talking with both Kristine and my centers in our defensive zone (which WILL come in time, and is getting better each game, but still needs work)
• figuring out how to throw the puck OUT of the zone when we’re closing in on one of those horrid mega-defensive-shifts

KP, thanks for having a day so Libby could make us cupcakes. NOT a birthday, mind you, but just a day.

Okay, off to bed!

• Sunday - game (storm)
• Tuesday - practice (storm)
• Wednesday morning - practice (wellesley)
• Wednesday night - scrimmage
• Friday morning - practice (wellesley)
• Friday night - game (not-storm)
• Sunday - game (storm)
• Tuesday - practice (storm)

As it turns out, it was more like this:

• Sunday - game (storm)
• Tuesday - practice (storm)
• Wednesday morning - practice (wellesley)
• Wednesday night - scrimmage
• Friday morning - practice (wellesley)
• Friday night - game (not-storm)
• Sunday - game (storm)
• Tuesday - practice (storm)

Wednesday I felt awful after work, this morning I decided not to do because we were planning on going to the Cape to play tonight, but then tonight got canceled! But the biggest revision is that my gear doesn’t smell quite as bad as it might.

With a free night, I’m going to go to bed before 10 p.m. I live a wild and crazy life, I tell you. Friday night excitement: bed before 10! When I get up there in age, I’m gonna be the talk of the retirement community. Ha!