HUGE Long Catch-Up Post

Alright all, life has been absolutely insane lately. This is going to be a huge post spanning a couple months and several topics, including hockey! So let's get going!

Work
As of around the beginning of December, I am completely, officially Combat Mission Ready (CMR) certified in my position on base. This basically means that I can be trusted to work on my own, which is awesome because there are only four people in my shop (me, two active duty, and one civilian) and me being able to handle the everyday stuff frees up the other guys to do more of the supervisory/bureaucratic and more in-depth analysis projects. (For the curious, the overall gist of my job is to manage all the sensors in the Space Surveillance Network (SSN) and not only make sure that they're playing nice with each other, but that the data they get is good. In a fun-fact nutshell, I run the network that tracks Santa on Christmas Eve.) It's been working pretty well for us so far. I will stay full-time with them through March, and then I'll start splitting my time between the JSpOC and the 216th. For the most part, I like my job a little more every day, although of course there are days that I want to run away screaming or my brain feels like scrambled eggs by the end. Orbital mechanics and computer programming just really shouldn't reside in the same brain, I'm convinced.

Tomorrow marks two years since I enlisted. There have been three decisions in my life that I knew were absolutely, positively right the second the option was presented to me: going to Purdue for college, moving to California, and joining the Guard. Those clicks don't happen often, but I'm glad they did when they did.

Working Out
Unfortunately, I haven't been in the dojo all that much lately, although I do try to make it in at least once a week. Mostly, I have been running. I don't particularly enjoy running, but it is the biggest part of our PT test and the easiest workout to get in, since all I have to do is change shoes and I can run pretty much anywhere. I prefer running the 1.5-mile trail on base, but the new colonel in charge of my division has mandated a 5 mile run every Thursday morning, so been working on upping the distance. I'm not quite up to that distance yet, but I can do a 5K fairly comfortably, if very slowly. I am hoping to do the LA Kings 5K in March now.

Unfortunately, the worst part of my personal PT test that I did in December was pushups. I passed that segment, but not nearly as well as I would have liked. So I would prefer to work on those and build up arm strength, which is more dojo-type work. And kickboxing and tkd are always good, but I really miss FIGHT. Tuesdays and Thursdays are squadron PT days, though, which makes it difficult to get in on those days. We'll see.

Knitting
Got a couple projects going right now. One of the girls in the squadron is a big Sharks fan and expecting, and I found a really cute baby jacket pattern and some Sharks-inspired yarn for her. I'm also working on a baby blanket for one of the guys I work with whose wife is expecting. But my main focus the past week or so has been our annual Puck This January Hat Trick K/CAL. I already have two goals finished:

Rebecca, from Knitty. Yarn is Berroco Vintage I got in the Start of Season Swap and super squishy. Chunky yarn + big needles = quick knit. It's not nearly as complicated as it looks, either, although I personally think it would easier to follow if it was in a color-coded chart instead of written out. And:

Chicago, based on this hat sold on Etsy. The lady who knit & sold it there graciously shared the star chart with one of the Blackhawks fans in Puck This, and allowed her to share it with the rest of the group. It's jut a plain old striped hat, and then the stars are duplicate-stitched on afterwards. I'd never done dup stitch before, so that was new, but it turned out to be rather like cross-stitching, and after a few tension mishaps, I got the hang of it pretty well. Unfortunately, the pattern was written for chunky yarn and I used worsted, so I have a very cute child-sized hat. I'm thinking about sending it off to a kids' charity in Chicago. But I do kind of like it, too. I might have to make another one in my size.

My third is on the needles right now, and is kind of a test-knit for the designer since it's fairly new and there haven't been many done yet.
It's called the Swirled Striped Hat (pattern available via Ravelry download), and I like it so far. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it's got a lot of potential. As with my A New Angle afghan, I've been giving feedback to and getting feedback from the designer, which remains one of the coolest parts of Ravelry. And, why yes, those last two do just happen to be Blackhawks-inspired, since it is a hockey group's K/CAL. And speaking of the Blackhawks...

Hockey
I know I wanted to keep the hockey talk to the other blog, but to me, these ended up being more personal than sporty. Not only did I get to enjoy a game at the UC this year AND do my personal Thanksgiving Blackhawks marathon, but I ended up being a Blackhawks California season ticket holder! I was able to make it to ALL SIX games that the 'Hawks play in California during the regular season! And have pretty darn good seats (and places to stay) at all of them.

In order, some of the pics w/ stories (photo albums from games behind the links):

Blackhawks @ Sharks 24 Nov
Kopy had been playing with the little guy in the white hoodie while waiting for his turn during the warmup drills, making faces at him through the glass and whatnot. Finally, he was at the front of the line, and we all thought he was turning to start his drill (the moment in the photo), but then he suddenly turned back and checked the glass right in front of the kid. I thought the kid was going to die of glee, he was SO excited! It was super cute!

Blackhawks @ Ducks 26 Nov
Obviously not my pic, but a screenshot that one of my friends sent me - I got high-fives from the Blackhawks when they came on and off the ice for the third period!! That is my hand that Toews is hitting! (And, I would like to point out, the game was tied 1-1 through the second. I gave high fives to Sharp, Kane, Hossa, and a few others, and suddenly they get THREE goals in the third to win. Coincidence? ;-) )

Blackhawks @ Kings 27 Nov
This one takes some multiple pics. For this game, I was sitting by the penalty box, rather than the bench. I still saw my two favorite players up close & personal, unfortunately. It started off with Sharp coming to sit by me early in the game:

Then late in the third (seriously late, like less than 5 minutes left of a very close game), Toews decides to come sit by me. Single Trouble:

And anything that Tazer does, Kaner has to do too, so Double Trouble:

And THEN, just because all the cool kids had done it, I guess, Bolly decides to make it a party in the sin bin. Triple Trouble:

Yes, that was all the same back-to-back overlapping penalties! And they still managed to win! But man, was that scary!

Those three were my Thanksgiving marathon games. Then they went back to Chicago for a couple weeks, but missed me so much that they came back out for a quick visit in December.

Blackhawks @ Sharks 11 Dec
This game was a crazy good defensive goalie duel with the 'Hawks surprise rookie from last year:

against the 'Hawks surprise rookie from this year:
Both goalies were the top stars for the game, but unfortunately, Crow came up on the short end in OT, but my record at the Tank is getting better! The first time I was there, they got 0 points; this time, they got 1! Slowly but sure we are making progress. It amuses me to no end that the fans at the Shark Tank boo Brian Campbell every time he touches the puck there, but I gotta say, out of the three pro rinks here in Cali, that one wins for sheer fun. The fans love the game, they love their team, and they just have fun. Too bad it's the one that is the farthest away. (I did also have a lady sitting behind me in a Sharks jersey lean forward at one point and conspiratorially whisper “I just wanted you to know that I really like Keith. And Seabrook. And Sharp. And…well, maybe I should stop now.”)

Blackhawks @ Ducks 2 Jan
Again, they went back home for a couple weeks, but then came back out to ring in the New Year California-style. Only this time, they brought their moms with them.
Toews was out that game due to injury, and I didn't get to give the guys their high fives this time due to some rather...inconvenient people who refused to move two inches so I could lean over the rail, and the guys lost. Well, okay, the Ducks didn't beat them in that game; the Ducks' goalie, Jonas Hiller, did. Awesome goalie, btw. Only reason they won, because they sure didn't play that well. Too bad.

Blackhawks @ Kings 3 Jan
The next day was a bit exciting, at least for me. I was staying at a hotel near the Staples Center for the weekend, and went to get some coffee that morning from the Starbucks that's just across the way (if you've ever been to the LA LIVE area, you know where I'm talking about). I glance out the window, and Eddie Olczyk (one of the Blackhawks' TV announcers) is walking by. I wave like an idiot before remembering that he doesn't have a clue who I am and is wondering why this apparently crazy person is waving at him through a Starbucks window. So I get my coffee and head back over to the hotel, where I get blocked behind a trio of guys trying to go around a corner to the escalator (I was going to go up to the business center to print out something, I forget what now). Of course I said "Excuse me!" when I bumped into one of them and look up apologetically, and realize I am looking at Jack Skille. (I think I may have said "Hi" and smiled like a ditz but I don't really remember. I do remember him saying "Hi" back, so I suppose I must have. The cameras, btw, do NOT do him justice - he's CUTE!) I get ahead of the trio on the escalator and look back to do a "no really, that didn't just happen" reality check, and he is with Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews!! My two favorite players (and Skille does not trail very far behind them on that list either) were RIGHT BEHIND ME!! I know I DID smile and say "Hi! Good luck tonight!" at that point, and I think there was a murmured "Thanks" but honestly, I'm just proud of myself for making it off the escalator without tripping over anything. I was so in shock. They went their way and I went mine (sadly, not the same way), but I was supposed to meet a friend for lunch downstairs in the lobby, so I kind of lurked and ended up seeing several of the Hawks plus EdzO again, although I didn't talk to any of them. One of the waiters knew I was waiting for someone, and at one point asked "Oh hey, is that your friend?" The guy he was indicating was Corey Crawford. (Who is very very skinny w/o all those big goalie pads, btw.) Sigh, I wish!

And, again, physical contact with the guys brings about good luck for them. Toews returned to the lineup that night and ended up scoring the GWG. Sharpie also scored (twice, if I recall correctly) during that one, and the Hawks finished their season sweep of the Kings.

Stan Lee did the ceremonial puck drop:

Tazer played peekaboo with me:
(I was actually trying to get a shot of Hossa, who is forever blurry in my pictures. I didn't realize Toews was right behind him, but I will take it!)

And, the best jersey autograph EVER:
(and I was having a big "I miss Burish! Bring Bur Back!" weekend - we need a pest again - so that was doubly awesome!)

So I got to do all that stuff, PLUS go to Illinois & see the family for a few days at Christmas, where of course we all ate wayyyy too much very good food, drove each other crazy, and spoiled each other rotten. At least, I got spoiled, anyway:
That is a Stanley Cup Champions DVD autographed by Patrick Sharp AND a team picture from the 2009 Blackhawks/Red Wings Winter Classic game at Wrigley Field, autographed by the entire team! Best. Little. Brother. EVER! My mom refused to let me sleep with the picture, but prying it out of everyone else's hands to get it home to Cali was a bit of a challenge. (That picture is also now the subject of every threat my brother feels the need to coerce me with. Distance from family is still a good thing!)

So yeah, I've been a little busy lately! Hope to settle down a little bit and get some rest now!

Marathon Games 1 & 2

I'm going to put most of the actual hockey game stuff over on the other blog, but I have been having a BLAST this week!

-I am apparently a very familiar-looking person. Five different people at two hockey rinks almost 400 miles apart have either stopped me in the concourse or approached me at my seat to tell me that I look very familiar. Weird.

-If you sit near the home team's bench, you don't get to see your team on the bench as much, but you get to see them shoot at the goal closest to you twice. If you sit near the visitors' bench, you will get to see your guys on the bench a lot more but it will be harder to see them on the ice. Presuming, of course, that they spend more time on offense than defense, which is generally a good thing to do in a hockey game. I cannot decide which I like more and may continue flip-flopping. (I think my seat for tomorrow is on the visitors' side, but not sure.) However, sitting on the visitors' entrance aisle iz teh ossim. (Honda Center, Sect 209, Row E, around seat 10-ish. That is going to be my seat there now forever!) I got high-5s from my guys!!!

-Staying on board the Queen Mary while in SoCal and it's really nice for the price! Very thin walls, though. I did one of their ghost tours this evening, which was very interesting. There was one room that they were asking questions and the K2 meters were going off and a few people said they saw something (including a self-proclaimed psychic)* - I felt/saw/experienced absolutely nothing other than visually seeing the meters light up. We move on to the old first class pool and supposedly there's a lady in the changing rooms who "guards a vortex" there. They set up the equipment and were asking questions again and asked if she would let us go into the changing rooms. The "answer" came back as a clear "No!" The guide told the group that they could go into the changing rooms if they wanted but he wasn't going to; he'd had his own experiences in there and didn't care to repeat them again. Of course, the rest of the group all wanted to go in, but I kept getting a nagging feeling about it and didn't. It wasn't like I was afraid something bad would happen or something but it was just more of a "Man, if you believe what you just got 'told', and she told you to go away, go away already!" protective kind of feeling that I just couldn't shake. Rather like walking by a door guarded by armed security guards. You're really curious as to what is behind the door but it's clear that it's not an issue that really needs to get pressed. Weird. So I stayed out and talked to the guide for a little bit. It turns out that I am not the only one who has had issues with going down to the isolation wards. (Claustrophobia, however, didn't bother me tonight.) All in all, though, nothing happened that I would say beyond a reasonable doubt was paranormal, and if any ghostie wants to come into my room at night and wants to mess with my stuff, that's fine, as long as I don't get woken up and I don't lose any of it.

-I have a new favorite pair of earrings. Big dangly cheap silver and turquiose circles. Love them! Yet another set of earrings that I can't wear for 90% of my life, between work and martial arts, but they're so fun!

-Thanksgiving was much more fun than I had anticipated. I was invited to a guy I work with's house to spend the afternoon/evening with his family. There turned out to be six adults - two couples, two singles (I got kind of a "wow, what a coincidence that you guys have SO much in common!" vibe, but oh well) - and three kids. It was very fun. The kids were all old enough that they could run around outside or play upstairs, and the grownups played a cross between Pictionary and Telephone (I can't think of the name right now, Scribbleysomething, maybe?) and Apples to Apples which is a very fun game! You get to see how a lot of people's minds work, which is interesting. Anyway, I had kind of figured it would be eating around three, some polite conversation, and home by six or seven. I didn't get home until after eleven. Which sucked for trying to get laundry done and packed for today, but was too much fun to really complain about.

-I think I might hit up the Aquarium of the Pacific tomorrow, since the game isn't until the evening. One more day/night in SoCal, then going back up Sunday and have to go in to work for a couple hours to get caught up on the daily tasks that haven't gotten done because everyone's been on Thanksgiving break. Random day off later this week too, so my orders can change over from MPA (being loaned out to the 614 AOC full time) to AGR (being actually employed by the 216 OSS full time). My schedule's going to be so out of whack!

*ETA (because I'm not falling asleep now) Some of the experiences included flashlights turning on and off, several people feeling ill (I felt ill, too, but that was because I'd had two alcoholic drinks that day and not enough food to soak it up!), a couple of odd noises, and supposedly an apparition in the green room. There's this room that is supposed to be "Henry's" room - a guy who died in a boiler room accident and is supposed to be, well, grumpy about it to say the least - and they had everyone go in and turn off the lights and then they set up a flashlight, a K2 meter, and a DVR on a table. Another lady in the group had a second K2 meter a couple feet away. They started asking questions and got a few hits on both the meters and the flashlight. People around me seemed tense and a couple mentioned feeling dizzy or ill. They asked if whoever was there wanted us to leave and it went dark. Someone joked "Aww, Henry likes us!" and the meter flashed all the way across. Then this girl in the group gasped and said "You guys are going to think I'm crazy, but I swear I just saw a little girl over by the table!" No little girls had been mentioned on the tour at all at that point, but the guide said that there is supposedly a little girl running about the place and that she usually stayed one floor above, but people had seen her all over the ship. After that, the group claimed that "the energy in the room got lighter", they felt better, and the psychic said that the little girl had made the "bad energy" that was in there before leave. Also, in the changing room above (the one I didn't want to go into), one couple on the tour supposedly got touched by a dark mass who wanted them to leave.

I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the people I shared the tour with, but I have serious reservations about the claims that they made. I have no doubts that they experienced what they said they experienced, but think about it from a psychological standpoint. You have about twenty people in a group because they want to learn about ghosts. You're taking them through locations that are famous for being haunted. Now, no effort was made to scare us, it wasn't like going through a haunted house at Halloween or anything, but you tell the group about a supposedly malevolent spirit and then stick them in a small dark room. Not to mention there is a slight pressure difference because you're actually about fifty feet underwater at that point. (I really didn't need to know that, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.) Energy is going to be weird and tense inside that room just from the combination of psychological factors you just had them experience! Then this little girl appears (that I can't explain, unless the tourist was a plant) and suddenly everyone is relieved because it's not a big bad scary spirit, it's a little girl and who is scared of a little girl? and the "energy in the room" lightens. I'm not sure I would call that paranormal, just normal environment messing with your mind, maybe deliberately, maybe not.

I really thought the tour was interesting and a neat experience - you do get to see parts of the ship that are not open to the general public - but I felt pretty detached from it. An observer rather than a participant. Except for the "these rude people are invading my space after I asked them to go away" feeling in the changing area (and a creepy vibe from one of the - living - cleaning crew guys we saw - you know how there are some people you see and you just don't like? yeah, that was him), it was pretty uneventful for me. I am not psychic, I have no desire to be psychic and I also am not willing to be deliberately scared for entertainment. Evidently I am not "in touch" with the spirit world and am "closed off", or ghosts really are like most living people and tend to leave me alone ;-)

Let the Marathon Begin!

First off, Trans-Siberian Orchestra is awesome to see live! I've always liked the drive and pulse to their sound, and, while there were some parts of their show that I wasn't insanely wild about, I did like the lazer and the use of the LEDs and pyrotechnics. I am insanely jealous that I worked in technical theater professionally and educationally for twelve years and never once got to give or take a cue for a flamethrower, though. (Admittedly, the wrecking ball from Dames At Sea was pretty fun, but still, it's no flamethrower.) The two things that I didn't really care for were the LED screens - I found them distractingly pixillated and not particularly graphically flattering for the pictures/images they displayed - and the choreography was just horrible. I will be the first to admit that I am not a dancer, nor have ever been one, but I'm pretty sure our swing choir in junior high had more complex and interesting choreography. Luckily, choreography is not a huge important element to the show, so you could just ignore it fairly well. I did, however, realize how "military" my life has become, though, when I just kept thinking how pretty the guys' hair was. I do love long hair on guys, as long as they keep it clean. Mmm! Don't see too much of that anymore, sigh.

But anyway, that was very fun and I got meet up with a fellow Puck This!er and her hubby up at the Los Gatos Brewing Co., which is very yummy and I would totally recommend. (We never did get around to drinking any of the beer there, since we were talking too much hockey and knitting, but I can recommend the BBQ burger and the coffeecake!) We also hit up Yarn Dogs (sans hubby) which is a totally cute little LYS up in Los Gatos and I may have to make a return trip or five up there. (Pics of the yarn shop raid do exist, but alas, they are not mine and I have not asked permission yet to use them, so you will either have to take my word for it or wait.)

Monday was work and class, which was taught by Mrs. S, who got stuck with me as a partner for tkd and we would get giggling during drills - at least in my case because I am very not used to working with her because she rarely works with the tkd class and is about a foot shorter than me and the drill involved many crescent kicks, I have no idea what she was giggling about - and generally caused trouble. Not as much as Ma'am and I can cause, mostly because there were kids around and she was teaching, but still fun.

Today was the Thanksgiving dinner/celebration at work, which was fun but a little weird, since Tuesday is also PT day. It maybe wouldn't be bad if we did PT in the morning, but I'm really curious as to how many people actually showed up for the "4.5-5 mile run" scheduled for the afternoon cuz I know my flight didn't. Granted, there are four people in my flight. One is a civilian, one is on leave this week while he & family move onto base, and the other guy and I looked at each other, said "no way" and somehow got extremely busy working with things that had to be done Right Now around PT time. (Note: this is absolutely NOT typical behaviour for my flight - we typically drop every hour on the hour for some form of PT or other and all of us do outside workouts as well - but that's just poor planning after a Thanksgiving lunch.) I also got to spend the last half hour of the day talking hockey with our Canadian boys, which is always fun although it does kind of make me feel like a bit of a ditz sometimes. One is a Leafs fan, one is a Canadiens fan. It makes life interesting, for sure! (And it is kind of nice to hear Jonathan Toews come up in conversation that I have not started, even if it was in the "eh, she's a Jonathan Toews baby" context - I refuse to be offended.)

Tomorrow is a couple hours of work and then heading back up north to the Shark Tank again for the hockey game and the start of my personal Blackhawks marathon! Yay!

More Things I Learned This Week

-McDonalds' Quarter Pounders w/ Cheese are WAYYY salty! I don't usually get fast food burgers unless it's from In-N-Out, and I really dislike cheeseburgers in general anyway, but I was starving and they screwed up my order and I thought "eh, I'm hungry enough to deal with it." I wasn't. Yuck.

-You would think that if the cat can't be bothered to clean the house or do laundry while I'm out, he could, at the very least, have a hockey game already turned on when I get home.

-Wrist wraps are not optional equipment for kickboxing. In fact, they're more important than the actual gloves. I can deal with bruised knuckles, but aching wrists suck. Related: I have a re-found appreciation for repetition training. It was kind of cool to still be able to just react and not think while getting tossed around during FIGHT. And trust me, Sir did NOT go easy! Obviously, he wasn't as tough on me as he was with the guys - he's really good about challenging us at our own levels - but he was definitely not going to let me just go through the moves like the new girls. I appreciate that. (He does go easier on groundwork with us, though.) It was also cool that there was an MMA fight that night on tv that I happened to catch just as the fighter was doing that exact ground move and used it to win. I don't really go out of my way to watch fights, but I do enjoy those "OH!" moments.

-Bedroom furniture is a pain to find. I need a new dresser and I want a headboard. Can't find either that I like. Sigh.

Veterans Day

Oh, say! Can you see, from the dawn's early light,
What, so proudly, we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars - through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched - were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our Flag was still there.
Oh, say! Does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the Free and the home of the Brave?
-Francis Scott Key, The Star-Spangled Banner

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God. - US Armed Forces Oath of Enlistment

Thank you to all those who have raised their right hands and sworn that Oath. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you.

Things I've Learned Lately

-Vegetables should never ever be boiled. They should be sauteed or grilled or baked or stir-fried. Then I'll actually eat them. Willingly. Like, to the point that I'll even make them myself.

-If rocket launches ever become boring or not-cool, someone please shoot me and end my life quick.

-If you make a pair of toe-up socks in your team's colorway, and those socks turn out to be lucky, DON'T try to make another pair. Particularly don't try to make another pair in the reverse order (cuff-down). It will a.)mess with the team and b.)mess with the knitting juju, too. I don't know how many times I've had to rip back every project I've started, including the sock, until I finally took the hint and just frogged the thing last night. Since then, I've been able to correct the other projects' mistakes AND Coach Q says the guys will all be back in the lineup by the weekend AND had their "best practice of the season" today. Never mess with the power of knitting!

-Pattern ideas will completely elude you when you really want to work with a new yarn (two skeins of Berroco Vintage Chunky from a Puck This/Ravelry swap) that is soft and squishy and pretty colors (blue and green). The gifter suggested Rebecca from Knitty, which is very cute, but I don't really wear hats all that much. I'm thinking a bag of some sort. Might have to make it up as I go. Hmm.

-Not going to martial arts is nothing more than cheating myself. And not just out of money. It wasn't like I was avoiding it or anything, but I was really trying to focus on running and PT. Last week, I randomly saw or otherwise talked to three different people from the dojahng, and had two different dreams where Sir would get on my case for not being in class. So last night I went back for the first time in a while. I love being there. I love the people. I love the workouts. I love the fact that I can get tackled there. I love the inside jokes. I love the fact that things came back to me pretty quickly. I love the fact that I worked out hard enough for my muscles to feel it today. Didn't go today b/c of squadron PT, and there's a standing deal for hockey game nights, but can't wait until Thursday when I can go back!

-One of my friends is totally serious about wanting me to play hockey with them on weekends. I am sorely tempted but pretty sure I would completely embarrass myself. (Because if I'm not honest here, where else would I be?)

-Thanksgiving week is going to be very busy this year. Sunday: TSO concert in SJ. Wednesday: Hawks/Sharks in SJ. Thursday: T-day w/ friends and coworkers. Friday: Hawks/Ducks in Anaheim and possibly hangout time with LA friends. Saturday: Kings/Ducks in LA. Sunday: sleeping to get ready for work on Monday. I do even have to work a couple days in there, too!

Spoiled

My mom keeps telling everyone that we got spoiled this weekend. I must say, I have to agree with her. No unexpected visits this time - I'm pretty sure I mentioned (once or twice or a million times) that we had planned out a Blackhawks game in Chicago this weekend. Mom picked me up at O'Hare Thursday afternoon, we got to spend the drive back chatting and then we spent the rest of the evening with the guys and my favorite Chinese food.

Friday was spent on a run, some time with the little bro & extended family, then off to a football game at the local high school with my best friend from that time, her hubby (a teacher) and their adorable little girl. After halftime, we packed G (who was really really upset that she was so sleepy and bound and determined to run until she dropped) up in the carseat with her daddy, and then B and I went to one of the local watering holes. Ran into another old friend there (after a bit of confusion b/w me and B on his identity), and unfortunately a drama king decided to join us at our table and cut our night a bit shorter than we wanted as we had to pull a "Hey B, how come K isn't here yet? Wasn't she coming? We should call her now!" to get away from him. We ended up going back to her house and chatting with her hubby for a while before crashing for the night.

Saturday, though...we packed Mom, Dad, & Bro into the car and headed back up to Chicago. That's when the spoiling really started. We got to the United Center before the gates opened, so we wandered around and happened to find the lot the players park in. Most of them were already there, I guess, but we watched Pat Foley and Marian Hossa park and go in - my brother is now madly in love with the Bentley that Hoss showed up in - and we watched one of the employees start moving cars around. We saw him move a big SUV to right in front of the Mustang Pat Foley had shown up in, and just as my dad joked “Wouldn’t it be funny if that was Eddie O’s car they just used to block in Pat Foley?” Eddie O himself came out to put his bag in that very car! We about died laughing. Mom also wondered how many car-moving pranks got pulled, and it turns out at least one - Kaner’s car apparently got regularly moved on him during his rookie year, according to the game program! =)

Mom about had a heart attack when she saw our seats - I refused to tell them where we were sitting beforehand. She teasingly complained about it to the guy at the gate, who snickered and told her she better be happy with such horrible seats. We walked almost straight from the gate down into the rink, where the usher, of course, does his job and says “oh yeah, just keep going down the stairs, you’re the second row up from the ice on the other side of the aisle from the bench” and after we picked Mom’s jaw up off the floor and made it down, I don’t think she stopped saying “Oh my gosh!” until the first intermission. My brother got hooked during warmups; he’s been tolerant of our hockey adoration but I think this is the first time he actually got it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him grin so much!

2500 mile plane ticket: $250
4 Blackhawks tix @ the UC: $X
Sharing a hockey game with your family for the first time: PRICELESS!

More pics of the game up on my Facebook & Flickr accounts (same pics, just different places). Unfortunately they lost, but hey, they've played 10 times in 16 days, with only a max of one day off between games and they looked fairly exhausted. I hope they're taking advantage of their couple days off now and getting some rest! But both of my favorite players scored goals, we got to hear "Chelsea Dagger" and the National Anthem UC-style, and we were thisclose to our guys!

(Why yes, that trio of hockey awesomeness is Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, and Captain Serious - Jonathan Toews - sitting there all in a row. Right Next To Us!)

Sunday, we got some breakfast, then headed to the airport. Got a bit of knitting done on the flights - I'm finishing up a Puck This! swap package - drove home from LA, and crashed pretty hard after getting chewed out by a thoroughly ticked off cat.

It was very cool to see my first home game with my family. I can't wait until next month when the Hawks come out to Cali!!

One Year Ago...

...today was one of the longest days of my life. I didn't wake up in my comfortable, queen-sized bed with soft sheets and a warm comforter and the cat snoring next to me; I woke up on a hard mattress with cheap sheets and a wool blanket and fifty other girls waking up around me. My alarm clock didn't go off, waking me up with my favorite songs; "reveille" took its first step in becoming one of my most hated songs ever. My exercise wasn't spending two hours in the dojahng with some friends each evening; we were out on the track doing pushups, situps, and running with the rest of the squadron before the sun even thought about rising. Breakfast wasn't a leisurely cup of coffee and a muffin while chatting with friends online; there was no speaking at any meal as we ate whatever we could wolf down as quickly as we could and prayed we didn't get screamed at by the TIs stalking between the tables. Getting ready for the day didn't include a warm shower and picking out a professional yet still flirty outfit; it was a quick rinse and the only thing in the "closet" was, while comfortable, quite possibly the most unflattering thing I've ever worn. We didn't learn about orbital mechanics or aerospace design in classes; we learned how to challenge and kill enemies, look for IEDs and apply first aid to those wounded in combat. We didn't relax in front of the tv at the end of the day; evenings were spent scrubbing and folding and praying you would have time to write a letter home. Mail didn't come in a digital inbox; it was a card or a letter you could hold in your hand and cherish and look at to help get you through the next day. Phone calls with home didn't make you roll your eyes and wonder what Mom wanted now; they were your lifeline to the outside world and became the most important twenty minutes of the whole week.

One year ago, I needed a drivers' license to get to work instead of a military ID, two badges and several PINs.
One year ago, the phrase "being a wingman" would have only meant something at a bar instead of in daily life.
One year ago, people in uniform would have been set apart, instead of brothers in arms.
One year ago, a memorial service would have included a black dress instead of a salute.
One year ago, I was a trainee instead of an Airman.

What a difference a year makes.

Some things you just can't look forward to

From the East out to the Western shore
Where many men and many more will fall
But no angel flies with me tonight
Till freedom reigns on all
And curse the name for which we slaved our days
Till every man shall his kingdom come
But sure as night turns day
Ends the passion play
Oh my god what have they done
With madman's rage, well they dug our graves
But the dead rise again you fools

Walk away me boys, walk away me boys
And by morning we'll be free
Wipe that golden tear from your mother dear
And raise what's left of the flag for me

-Flogging Molly, What's Left Of The Flag

Bragging A Bit

It's been more of those "lots of things going on but not really a lot to talk about" kind of days. Busy training at work still, and I'm liking the job more as I get into it. I like the variety of things we do, although I hope I get a little more confidence soon, because it's really scary to think "oh man, what did I do this time? Is this sensor having problems because of me?? Did I take down the entire network??" (Note: it's very very unlikely that anything I do will irrevocably screw anything up, but you know me; I'm usually that one-in-a-million case!) We also do a lot of statistical analysis, which I always enjoy for the sole purpose that it lets me make pretty graphs in Excel. (Learn and love Microsoft Excel - it's one of the best tools you can use in the office. Pop the right numbers into cells, make a bar graph with some of them, a line graph with others - approximately five minutes of work, counting font-tweaking time - and a captain will walk by and say "wow, that looks good! Nice work! How long have you been working on this? You should go home!" Trufax!)

I have been able to achieve two of my financial goals so far this year. I have one credit card completely paid off now AND paid for, in cash, the best tickets I could afford to two Blackhawks games - one here in LA against the Kings in November and ONE AT THE UNITED CENTER IN CHICAGO in two weeks!! (Why no, I'm not excited. Wherever would you get that impression??) Actually, four tickets to the Chicago game - my family is going with me! The plane ticket was also paid for in cash. And I should be able to make it to at least one more game this season! I'm very pleased with myself right now.

I'm also proud of myself on the exercise front. I haven't been to the dojahng in several weeks, unfortunately. Honestly, by the time I get home from work, the very last thing I want, or even have time, to do is go out again. So instead, I've been stopping by the gym on the way home from work. Tuesdays and Thursdays are either weights or off-days, and Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays are running days. I use the trail, the track, or the treadmill depending on the weather conditions and the workout, and Saturdays I run in Santa Maria. I have a program set up through Adidas' MiCoach system, which I really like. The workouts are fairly short, usually 16-25 minutes, so it's really easy to do the "Ugh, I so do not feel like running today! But it's only another 20 minutes of my life and then I can go home and sleep!" thing. I have it set where I do three days of interval training, including one day of sprints, and one day of a steady run. The only thing I don't like about it is that the GPS doesn't work so good with the iPhone, which really screws up your distance and pacing results. I'm thinking about getting a different compatible GPS tracker to see if that helps. I think I've been actually averaging around 2 miles per workout, though, and honestly, having it set up in advance makes it so much easier to stay motivated. I've been really consistent with it so far, and, while I still don't like running, I do think I am getting closer to being back to where I was at before.

I think that's about it for now. I just finished a conversation with a friend in Seattle, and all the games I care about today are much later this afternoon/evening, so it's probably a good time to run some errands and hit the library to finish up term paper research. Thank goodness it's a three-day weekend - the paper is due Monday night! ;-)

How is it almost October already??

So busy and yet so not busy!

I've finished my final formal training class at work and am now in OJT. The crew job I got ultimately put into isn't what I expected at all, but I don't dislike it. That might just be because I know it's relatively temporary - I got a full-time position with my squadron that starts late October, so my time will be probably 80% doing squadron work and 20% crew work. It's also kind of interesting, because instead of doing a lot of orbital analysis and actual tracking of things, I do more statistical data and sensor analysis to make sure that the people who do do the orbital analyses are gettng the best data they can get. So I have to be able to understand not just the orbital data that they use and why/how they use it, but also the capabilities of all of the sensors we use to get that data AND a decent amount of the programming code that is used to process it. So space geek stuff, computer geek stuff, and management geek stuff.

In knitting, I have another pair of socks on the needles (Leyburns in my beloved Mountain Colors Bearfoot), and the OpArt baby blanket has been resurrected. My friend Sarah (a die-hard Sharks fan, along with her SO) informed us this week that she is expecting a little one, so I have ripped it back a bit and re-started it with some teal and possibly a thin strip of dark yellow in addition to the black and white. I think it looks pretty awesome so far, and there is a good feeling about the blanket again. I'm really happy about it!

Oh, and not only did I score a rockin ticket for the November Kings/Blackhawks game down in LA, but I have been able to save up enough for a quick weekend trip to Chicago next month and tickets to a Blackhawks game at the United Center with my family!!!! I'm so stoked to be able to a.) experience a home game in Chicago and b.) get to go to a hockey game with my family! Now I just have to decide which jersey to wear! (Sharp's has the best record so far, but it also has the most experience.) I've been coerced into thinking that the Kings might be my team when they aren't playing the Blackhawks - I went down for a practice the weekend before last and really enjoyed it. You don't realize how LOUD hockey is, even without a crowd cheering during a game. Ice skating is loud, the stick hitting the puck is loud, the puck hitting the boards is loud, the players hitting the boards (or ice, or other players) is loud. It's crazy, and I love it!

Speaking of loving things and good times, there were two launches on base last week, last weekend I got to hang out with John and the girls at their new place in Burbank, and tomorrow Chrissy and I are hitting up the farmers' market in SLO! I've been busy in the evenings and it's been hard to make it to classes at the dojahng. It's much more convenient to work out on base - either running the trails, the tracks, the streets, or the treadmill or using the weight equipment at the gym - and it's free. Breaking in new running shoes, too, because the time off from running this summer has killed my run time and I'm vain enough to want to not be the worst PTer in the squadron.

Taking tonight off to watch Ghost Hunters, knit a bit, and pick up the place so Chrissy doesn't have a heart attack when she comes over tomorrow. I have a rental car right now (finally getting those awful scratches fixed up on my baby! She has almost 80k miles already! ) and have come to the conclusion that I will never own a Honda Civic. Pretty blue color, but uncomfortable car! =P

Drive-By Posting

I actually do have things to share, like pics that made my friend Cy and I feel like we were all high-class hoitytoity when he came to visit last weekend, and three (three!) current knitting projects (none of which I have any idea what I'm going to do with), but I haven't been feeling well all weekend and so I'm just going to post pics instead.

A baby blanket I started for a dear friend who has since miscarried =( I can't bear to frog it, so I keep working on it in spurts, but I have no idea what to do with it now. I thought about maybe giving it to Sir and Mrs S when their new little one is born sometime this month, but that seems kind of crass and bad juju-ish to me. On the fence about it, but it is fabulous "I don't feel good and just want to curl up in bed with a book or a movie" mindless weekend knitting. Pattern = OpArt Yarn = Caron Simply Soft in Black and White.

You've seen this before, but this is a much better pic of my A New Angle. I've decided not to put borders on it, because I like the edges as they are. One of the joys of Ravelry is that the designer actually saw it and wondered what I had done differently that "the holes look so deep you could fall into them!" The only thing we could come up with was the color scheme. No matter, I love it!
Pattern: A New Angle Yarn: Loops & Threads Impeccable in Amethyst, Lavender, and True Grey.

The spoils of my playoff pool: Blackhawks colored yarn from Draygone Yarns! (Our very own Puck This raveler! Who did a lovely job on lovely yarn, even if she is a Canucks fan ;-) ) Just basic socks, new mindless knitting during class breaks/study time project. Stripes always make socks go faster, I think! Again, I don't really wear socks all that much (although I have been lately), so we'll see if I keep them or give them away.

Final current knitting project is pic-less for the moment, because I can't get the lighting right. And, to be fair, there isn't much of it right now, anyway. I'm finally putting my skein of yummy Claudia Handpainted Silk laceweight to good use as an Adamas Shawl. I got about ten rows into it, didn't like the fabric, and frogged it. I started it again tonight on smaller needles and I'm liking that a lot better - already through the first chart! Again, though, I have no idea what I'm going to do with it - I don't wear shawls myself (and if I did, I don't have anything that would go with this, sadly), and I don't know anyone who does. I'm such a process knitter. I'll keep working on it and decide what to do with it when it's done!

On a non-knitting note, my friend Cy came out to visit the weekend before Labor Day weekend. Unfortunately, work did not cooperate like it had promised it would, but we still managed to get some Central Coast tourism in.
While there are lots of really good vineyards around here, I will once again recommend Tolosa Winery up by SLO. They do have daily tastings, but on Saturdays and Sundays they also offer wine & cheese pairings. It's a bit pricier than a regular tasting ($20/person), but you get to hang out back in their Heritage Room (which has a fantastic view), get to taste really yummy wines and (surprisingly yummy, because I'm not generally a cheese person) different cheeses with them, and in general get treated like you're the most important person who has ever crossed their threshold for an hour or so. (Hint: Do NOT do this on an empty stomach, or you might have to sit for a bit longer than an hour or so if driving - they pour with a bit of a heavier hand for these!)

We also hit up Pismo Beach and the pier there, as well as splurging for pizza and beer at Klondikes Saturday after I (finally) got off work. After Pismo, we came back to the apartment, watched a bit of football, and then headed down to LAX so Cy could get his flight back to Kentucky. I was actually granted the next day off work, so I still got in a bit of a weekend, albeit not much. Started a new class last Tuesday, and have been busy with that, my current ERAU class, and my CDCs (um, how to explain? AFSC-specific lessons the AF thinks you need to learn - on your own time, of course - before they will promote you to a new skill level) ever since.

The ankle is still giving me fits on occasion, and I spent this past weekend borderline nauseous and headachy, which didn't help things at all. I did run a bit yesterday, though, and hope to get out again tomorrow - I'm limited to three workouts per week right now, so that plus squadron PT on Thursday should do it for the week. I would rather go to class, but I am very very much out of running shape, and, sadly, squadron PT tests take precedence over black belt tests. I might still go to tkd tomorrow night if the running workout is short and doesn't irritate anything. We'll see.

Maybe Katie

One of my favorite songs. Not just because it's my name and one of my favorite silly bands, but it's so darn catchy!


-"Maybe Katie", Barenaked Ladies

Busy Bee

I've noticed that the more stressed I get, the more I want to knit. I'm thinking that's a very direct correlation, and needs to translate into being allowed to carry a project with me at all times at work right now, like I did in Colorado. Of course, the difference between here and Colorado is that here, for now at least, I am actually doing stuff and it's hard to type and knit at the same time while looking appropriately military-esque.

The short version is that my squadron got tasked from On High and I got assigned as a team leader for one portion of it due to what was supposed to be a "you'll use it someday but not soon" course I did back in January. This was supposed to involve me showing a couple NCOs and airmen how to fill in some basic templates using information that was already available. It has evolved into me somehow getting designated as the enlisted focal point for the entire project today. Mostly because the brass need a centralized system where they can review things, and trying to track changes being made by approximately twenty airmen working on twenty different things on three different systems in two buildings is like herding cats. (Luckily, I have stage managed choreography rehearsals. It's about the same thing, really. And people laugh when I say my background is in theater! Muha!)

I think we've been doing a good job, too - we haven't gotten reamed out for lousy work or (more likely) had any of the officers have to sit us down and baby-step us through anything and I've only had to pull "dumb new airman" about one topic (which turned out to be not so dumb, since two officers didn't know either) - but it seems like everything that happened today added more items to my to-do list and very very few actually got crossed off. Very frustrating, particularly for coming in on a weekend, but it does give me a better idea of how to work through the coming week.

It's really intimidating to be in a meeting with the officers, though. Not because any of them are mean, scary people - in fact, they've all been extremely supportive and generous with advice and thanks - but just because of the experience difference there. Just the four that were there today have at least 50 years of experience between them, and here I am literally waiting for the *initial training* course we're building (which is a whole OTHER can o' worms). And the scariest one? Not the lt, not my flight cc, not even the DO. First Drill major. I've never been scared of him in the past (he also happened to be the second person from the squadron to see me the day I got back from Basic), and I rarely ever even see him, but for some reason he was totally intimidating today. Ugh.

Anyway, I get rather tired of staring at computer screens all day, so I will probably not be very consistent with posting. And I'm still grumpy because my ankle has been hurting all week. But for those who have suffered through all this rambling today:

Finished (well, blocking) Moon Dance Scarf. It's prettier than in the picture.

Teh Moniez

I hatez dem.

Seriously, nothing is more depressing than finances when you're trying to make ends meet. On the flip side of that, though, it's pretty cool when you lay everything out and come up with a plan and go "hey, I can DO this!" It won't be magic - it will definitely take some time - but figuring out that I will eventually be able to save close to $800 a month?!

That's a lot of yarn and hockey games!


Speaking of yarn, I have not gotten around to putting a border on the afghan yet, but I have almost finished the Moon Dance Scarf. I have about one and a half edgings left to go. Knitted-on edgings are both really cool and really irritating. It's neat to watch it kind of seam up like a zipper without having to actually sew anything, but I have been having the worst time keeping track of what stitches get p2tog/bo. I'm thinking sitting in the sunshine now will help.

Speaking of hockey games, I've moved a lot of my sporty-type posts over to a new blog called 1/2 Mental so as not to bore all the folks who really have no interest in my frequently nonsensical ramblings.

Off to run some rather important but tedious errands - finally changing the oil in my car, going to Target for a new clothes hamper (mine has mysteriously disappeared in the two months I was gone), and maybe even finally getting some lunch!

Blackhawks Convention Thoughts

-My respect for (and crush on) Jonathan Toews just keeps growing. During the Olympic panel this morning, he gave a shoutout to the overseas troops, saying that he thought it was pretty cool that the Olympic hockey tournament could help give "the real heroes " a break from what they were doing over there and help make them feel a little closer to home.

-I'm wondering which is stronger from the players' perspective - the Hawks/Wings rivalry or the Hawks/Canucks rivalry. There were several shots at Ryan Kesler in particular and the Canucks in general during the above-mentioned panel. The general consensus was "we can't wait to beat them (up) again!" It seems like with the Wings, it's the traditional rivalry, and the Canucks, it's personal still.

-Real friendship between teammates is a cool thing to see and we don't see it enough in today's media.

-Sharpie (who, btw, is no longer Chicago's sexiest bachelor - he got married last weekend) will be "rigorously" interviewing his teammates in an attempt to find an acceptable new roommate who will help him continue the proud traditions of beating Seabrook at Wrestlemania and pranking Captain Serious on road trips. Possibly a new BHTV reality show?? I would ask where I could apply for this job, but I'm still sighing over the fact that he said his wedding, not his day with the Cup, was the highlight of his summer. Awww!

-I know I said this after the Olympics, but I'll say it again - the Hawks are some pretty classy guys. We need more guys like that around here. I don't have the money or time to keep going to Chicago! (Although I am working on it!)

Quotes of the Day
Fan: Soupy, are you going to be looking for some revenge on Ovechkin for your injury?
Campbell: Yup! See, what I do is hold this big huge silver trophy over my head and wear this Stanley Cup ring....maybe I'll cut a hole in my glove for that game so he can see it real clear.

Sharp: My dog Shooter ate breakfast and dinner out of it (the Cup, on his day with it). Then Tazer drank out of it the next day...be sure to tell Toews that when you see him.

(BHTV's Convention live stream schedule is here. BHTV clips of the opening ceremony are here. The panel interviews that were streamed live today have not been added to the replay clips, sadly.)

Who Are You Not To Be?

We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be?
- Marianne Williamson

I first heard that quote back when we were doing tablework for Godspell. It's kind of stuck with me ever since, in the back of my head, and lately it's been really prominent. I have no idea why, but it's been on my mind lately.

Several friends of mine, from various walks of life and in vastly different areas of the world, can often turn into chronic complainers. Life is never good enough. A relationship is in trouble, a job is lost, there's nothing interesting anymore. Most of my friends are people I would usually consider reasonably intelligent. They can see these things they don't like about their lives. They can describe them to you in depth. And I am sympathetic. Except for the fact that they don't do anything about it.

I do understand that we don't live in a world where we always get what we want, and we sure don't always get instant gratification. (Trust me. I understand this. If it were true, I'd be sitting in a fancy schmancy room at the Chicago Hilton being wined and dined by Blackhawks elite this weekend. And I'm pretty sure sitting in my sweats in my small-town California apartment typing a blog post with a slice of pizza and a glass of Jack & Coke is not the same thing.) Life is not fair. The economy sucks. Medical stuff happens. Money is tight. Jobs are scarce. I know. I live in this world, too. But you also aren't going to get anything if you just sit around and say "I wish" all the time. No one is forcing you to just sit there. No one has forced you down and scheduled your life to be miserable/boring/whatever. You have to play the hand you are dealt, no question. But you have three choices - hold, fold, or draw. And you can keep drawing cards until you get a hand you like. It's an unlimited deck. Maybe you'll never win the mega-multimillion jackpot, but you'll keep getting a better and better chance at it.

Live the life you want to live. Be the person you want to remember. Make decisions. Make mistakes. If you fail, at least you tried. Dreams don't come true without action. Things won't always go the way you want them to (I clearly need to save up in order to hit the Convention next year), and there will be consequences, good and bad, for your actions. But I'm pretty sure life is for living, not just wishing.

Who are you not to be?

It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live. - Albus Dumbledore/J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Random Wednesday

-40 inches worth of stitches do not fit on a 16" circular needle, particularly when you have to use said needle to pick up those stitches in the first place. So although all of the afghan squares are knit and seamed and it looks fabulous (and wow, is this warm!), I can't properly finish it until I get home.

-I leave Colorado on Friday morning. I'm hoping to be able to get home Saturday night, but if that becomes unreasonable or unsafe, I'll get home on Sunday at the very very latest. Can't wait! I might even try to make it to knitting on Monday!

-The Moon Dance Stole (Scarf) is a great pattern. Clear charts, easy to read knitting, fast to see progress.

-My ankle hurt a lot again tonight. I'm really over this whole "doesn't even twinge for several days and then BAM!" I want to go to classes next week, darn it!

-Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman promised that Patrick Sharp is "safe" from trade rumours this summer. Figured he would be, since they've been really using him in the media lately, but it's nice to know that I will be able to continue wearing both my jerseys next season without having a broken heart. Now about this goalie situation...

-On that note, my personal financial short-term goal is to save up money for tickets to both the Hawks/Kings game and the Hawks/Ducks game the weekend after Thanksgiving (assuming work schedule is clear, of course) and make an LA weekend out of them.

-California-bound on Friday! Gotta make sure to stop by the bank for cash and the pet store for portable litter boxes tomorrow.

-The cat has dug an end of the dark purple yarn from the bag and is chewing on it like it's a piece of spaghetti on a plate. All four paws are on the ground and it's just hanging out of his mouth. Quite amusing!

-Things I will miss about Colorado Springs: dry heat, thunderstorms, and easy access to a major city with professional sports teams.

-Things that I can't wait to get home to: a real kitchen oven, a decent stable internet connection, my big screen tv (to watch my new Blackhawks Stanley Cup Champions dvd on), cable tv with more than four channels, my friends, my squadron, and my dojahng. Even if classes are going to kick my butt for a while now because I'm so out of shape.

-Cubs manager Lou Pinella is retiring at the end of this season. Ryne Sandberg (probably my first professional athlete crush - I don't remember if it was him or Mark Grace) is "definitely interested" in taking over his spot and has done quite respectably as the manager for the Iowa Cubs. Lots of speculation going on as to whether this is a good idea or not, given Ryno's lack of major league coaching experience. I do understand that viewpoint. I really do. However, I say, a.) you can't get better marketing than that scenario right there and b.) how's he going to do any worse? Pinella is a good manager with an exemplary career. So was Dusty Baker, for that matter. If these guys who are tried and true can't turn the Lovable Losers around, doesn't it make you think that maybe someone who can grow up (as it were) with such a team might be able to do something different with it? Good thing they don't let me make decisions like that.

-I'm going home on Friday.

-I think I'm a more "social" person here in Colorado. Not that I necessarily hang out with more people or spend more time hanging out with people, but I have gone out a LOT more than I would/could in Santa Maria. Movies, baseball games, museums, zoos, just going out to dinner...heck, the idea of actually going out to a sports bar to watch a hockey game would not have even crossed my mind if I hadn't been stranded in a hotel where I couldn't get the channel. I've never had a problem going places by myself, but I am going to miss having the ability to keep doing that. Santa Maria just doesn't have that much to do.

-Unfortunately, it takes contract-dispute drama (the NHL/Gary Bettman v. New Jersey Devils/Ilya Kovalchuk contract) to get ESPN to remember that hockey is a sport. It got a whole one minute four seconds of coverage today on that station! That's almost more than it gets there during the playoffs!

-Bedtime for now, since painkillers for the ankle are kicking in and I do actually have class tomorrow and need to finish packing up. Did I mention I'm leaving Colorado on Friday??

NHL Cupcakes

(aka More Hockey Humour)

Inspired by this post over at Puck Daddy, the online hockey community has spent the day coming up with NHL-inspired cupcakes. Here are some of my favorites (some created by me, some by Puck This Ravelers, and some from Twitter). A lot of these will only make sense if you follow (or are forced to follow by an eclectic Ravelry group) several hockey teams and players in order to know the back stories.

The New York Rangers cupcake - sold only in high end boutique bakeries, looks yummy on paper, but tastes, eh - only ok on ice. It coulda been a contender……

The Adam Burish - mouthy, but nothing overly offensive, unlike The Sean Avery. Has been partially rebuilt.

The Sean Avery - offensive, and comes in very expensive designer wrappers, and is beat up often due to the offensiveness.

The Devils cupcake: Unobtrusive but classic flavour, expires on April 15th.

The Duncan Keith - Angel Food cake , red frosting with black (or brown) sprinkles… and 7 gummy teeth.

The Jaroslav Halak – sampled and perfected in Montreal, then shipped out to St. Louis for mass consumption.

The Brooks Laich: looks too good to eat therefore you just sit and gawk at it. (I would change that to Patrick Sharp, personally)

The Red Wings - red velvet cake with white frosting, red sprinkles and a gummy octopus on top. A classic recipe that you either love or hate. If in the presence of a Blackhawks cupcake, both cupcakes will spontaneously explode.

The Jonathan Toews: plain vanilla with golden frosting. (General consensus adds a silver cup to the top of this one)

The Sidney Crosby: doesn’t matter if you like it or not, it will get crammed down your throat.

The Patrick Kane: only costs 20 cents and will knock out a cab driver.

The Antti Niemi: decent first impression, strong Finnish.

The Atlanta Thrashers: the '10/'11 cupcake tastes very similar to the Blackhawks’ '09/'10 cupcake. Possibly made with some of the same ingredients.

The Ilya Kovalchuk: Coming soon to a bakery near you! Or you… or maybe you over there..

The Philadelphia Flyers: devil’s food cake , orange icing with white sprinkles. Somewhat dirty, but goes the distance only to get a single nut slid in at the end.

The Chicago Blackhawks: one really superb made, not enough money to make another

Knitting Stereotypes

Occasionally knitting boggles my mind. Not the act of it, that tends to soothe the mind, actually, and there's something pretty cool about looping a piece of string around two sticks and ending up with something beautiful. It's more the stereotypes of it. Not the stereotypes that non-knitters associate with knitters - I'm quite used to it being implied that only old ladies or pregnant women knit, which is pretty dumb when I am clearly neither an old lady nor pregnant - but the stereotypes that knitters have created in and of themselves. Think about it. Here are a few that I can come up with off the top of my head:

Lace is hard. The second project I ever did was a lacy baby blanket. And trust me, it was lace. Lace is....lace. Lace is only as difficult as you make it out to be. It is knitting, purling, increasing, and decreasing. Period. I, never having been told that lace is supposed to be hard and that it was only for "experienced" knitters, had absolutely no problem following the pattern. There were times that I couldn't count right to save my life, but that has happened in pretty much every project I've ever done. We've started a "Lace 'Em Up!" support thread over in the Puck This! group on Ravelry, and it amazes me how many of the members have spoken up and said they are afraid to try lace. These people are some truly excellent intelligent knitters (well, there ARE a few Red Wings fans). It boggles my mind. Granted, lace does take a bit more attention (which is why I don't do a lot of it), and there are certain tricks that will make a project go more smoothly (stitch markers and lifelines come to mind, but, again, those can be used in pretty much any project, not exclusively lace ones), but when I am getting teased and consulted as a "lace oracle" by other knitters, it tells me that lace is not hard. It's just different.

Colorwork (of any kind) is hard. Let's see...I've done stripes, patches, squares, entrelac, intarsia, and fair isle projects. I've yet to see the "hard," but again, knitters seem to be terrified of trying them. Yes, entrelac does look really strange at first, and you really have to put your faith in the pattern starting off, and keeping an even tension is important for fair isle, but guess what? Your tension isn't going to get better if you never try it.

Sweaters (and other sized garments) are hard. Frankly, to me, a hat is harder than a sweater. I've gotten sweaters to fit great - I have never gotten a hat to fit quite right. A basic top-down raglan sweater in the round is just about the most mindless knitting project I can think of. You don't even have to keep turning the work like you do with a garter stitch scarf. The only thing you have to know is your gauge and row count.

Socks are hard. The Yarn Harlot, the ultimate sock knitter, can wax much more poetically about socks than I can. The reason I don't knit socks very much even though I LOVE sock yarn is because, well, I don't wear socks very much. I've done singles, two-at-a-time, toe-up and cuff-down. I've done plain socks, lacy socks, and patterned socks. I've used dpns, 2 circs, and magic loop. And I've only been knitting for a couple years. Now, turning a heel is something that is rather mind-boggling at first, but it isn't difficult to DO, just difficult to figure out why it works. However, if children were expected to be able to knit socks 100 years ago, I'm sure that today's educated adults can manage them quite easily.

Anyone can knit, but only women of a certain age (shall we say) actually know what they're talking about, the rest just knit because it's a fad and only use cheap yarn and/or fun fur. This one drives me particularly batty and is one of the main reasons that I really have to work up the effort to go to an LYS. I hate getting watched in a store as though I am a fascinating new species of humanoid. Particularly when I can ask intelligent questions about yarns and patterns and needles and actually seem to want to spend money on quality items instead of crap. And the only time I ever buy muppet pelt (aka fun fur) is when I'm making a hedgehog for someone. (Omg, felting! You can felt, too?!) Apparently even other knitters seem to think that one magically becomes an expert knitter at the age of 50 (I'm guessing) and until then, any one else is a prodigy or just blindly following a trend.

From the perspective of a 29-year-old single woman (okay, so I do have a cat) who learned to knit at the age of 22 backstage during a production of Hamlet (true story), ideas like this, which are passed and learned from knitter to knitter, drive me a little crazy. I don't consider myself a good knitter, or an experienced knitter. I don't think I'm particularly gifted over any other knitters I know - usually quite the opposite. But I guess the upside to being mostly self-taught is that what you don't know really can't hurt you. And ignorance is bliss.