Meh

Still feeling a little "funk"y this week but hopefully I'll shake it before too long. I did force myself to go hit a bucket of golf balls with Coach Stalin last night. We tweaked my swing a bit because I was doing some goofy thing that was hurting my groin, so I hit about as bad as I ever have. Gonna have to work on that, though I'm not as into it as she and Mr. Stalin are. I can only be obsessed with one thing at a time. If I'm ever obsessed with golf, someone just go ahead and put me down.

Anyway, it sounds like we're planning to go skating tonight. I hate missing the ice for so long. My feet always hurt like a MF when I go this long without skating. Plus, when I'm feeling funk-y, it's hard to have my heart and mind all the way in it and be willing to take risks. Though on the Galleria ice, it's hard to take risks because you're packed in like sardines and the ice is crap (though the ice has been better the last couple of times).

I whine. Life could be so much worse. I think I just need a vacation.

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Congrats Wolves

All of you except Deveaux, who can bite me. And probably would. :P I kid... I'm sure Andre is a swell guy.

Also, congrats to Erik Reitz as it sounds like he's signing a one-way contract with the Wild for next season. He may not have been given much chance to earn that spot in Minny but he earned it in Houston none the less. I'm delighted for him and can't wait to watch him next season.

Tamitopia alerted me to this fabulous t-shirt. If I had to pick a logo to represent me, that would come about as close as anything possibly could.

Didn't work out today. Bad Ms. Conduct. Time for bed. Past time, really. But I'm watching a Detroit/Toronto game from 1971. Looks like video from the 50s. Cool to watch. The beauty of the game never changes. Plante got his bell rung. Thank god for modern goalie masks.

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Goalie's Psalm

Ya know, since Jesus Saves and whatnot:

THE GOALIE'S PSALM

The puck is my shepard;
I shall not ice.
It maketh me save in unnatural positions;
It leadeth me into leg splits;
It restoreth my fans’ faith;
It leadeth me in the paths of odd man rushes.
Yea, though I skate in the valley of the shadow of the net,
I will fear no sniper;
For my stick is with me.
My facemask and pads they comfort me;
They annointeth my body with Sports Crème;
My back-tippeth over!
Surely coaches and parents shall follow me all the games of my life.
And I shall dwell in the House of the Ice Rink forever.

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Hell.. Oh

Well, it's nearly a week since I last posted. Spent a very loooong weekend in Vermont but had a lovely time and saw my beautiful friend get married to a great guy. Also drank many margaritas on their dime at the reception and danced a bunch, so I'm sure there are seriously embarrassing photos out there.

Anyway, I always seem to take a few days to recover from a trip and it doesn't help that Mr. Conduct ran out of town less than 24 hours after I got back, because I'm always lazier when he's gone. But maybe some quiet time isn't a bad thing after being "ON" all weekend.

Haven't worked out at all, other than making sure I worked my quads extra while I danced. :) Definitely need to do something tonight, yoga if nothing else. My lower back is talking to me from all the standing I did this weekend. Hope I can work some of that out.

The draft is less than 2 weeks away and I'm getting excited about it. Also, the Wild are doing what looks like a really fun road trip around Minnesota with a few of the players. I really hope that the fact that Fridge and Voros are on the trip means they're going to be re-signed. Chicago could win the Calder Cup tonight, so I need to set that up to record. The last of the hockey, I guess. Man, I hate the off-season.

At least I'm going to end up being at home this weekend, so I can get in a good, long weekend skating session. I feel like I haven't skated for a month.

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Two-a-days

Ended up going skating last night after spinning in the morning. Talk about a rough day on the legs... But I actually did okay. I couldn't have done the 1.5-2 hours that we do on the weekends, but I worked on a few things. It was pretty crowded, especially a fairly large group of rink rats, which is always dangerous and annoying.

Anyway, I worked on stopping hardly at all. It's hard to there with as crowded as it is. Did just a smidge of backwards, but it went really smoothly until I got into a crowded area and freaked out a little. Fortunately, with no figure skaters there, we could use the center of the ice to practice crossovers, which Coach Stalin says I'm teaching myself bad habits. Also did lots of swizzles and c-cuts. I worked up a big sweat anyway (man, it was hot in there) and felt like I tested myself a bit given how tired my legs were from spinning. I was pretty satisfied.

So, that's it for nearly a week since I'm headed out of town tomorrow morning. I might try to go at lunchtime on Monday when I get back and then maybe on Wednesday or Thursday since it looks like I'll be gone the following weekend, too. I'm gonna need Coach Stalin BAD by the end of this.

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Catching up

Recovered from Saturday's skate (with a bit of knee soreness) with a bit of golf ball hitting on Sunday morning. Then yesterday was just blistering hot out, so I opted for staying indoors and doing my yoga DVD instead. Plus my back was hurting, so I was hoping that would help, and it did.

I vowed to go to spinning this morning, no matter what. Which, of course, meant the Wings-Pens game had to go into ridiculous multiple overtimes. Not only that, we were watching it on a 2 hour delay (though I think we were about 30 minutes from catching up to the live broadcast by the time Sykora pulled the GWG out of his ass.

But I DID go to spinning and it was a really good class. It was a little less intense than they usually are, which is just about perfect for me, and it was intervals, which is perfect for what I'm doing.

So, I'm proud of myself for going but man, I am so sleepy today, I can hardly keep my eyes open and head up. I keep having to shift gears on my work (like coming over to blog for a bit) to keep myself from flopping my head back and going to sleep. Even just a 15 minute power nap would rock my socks.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

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Saturday Skate

Coach and I were both yawning our way to the rink yesterday. Woke up a little when we hit the ice and still got a good session in. I have finally gotten the hang of stopping on my right skate! It was amazing how it just clicked finally. I'm not stopping on a dime just yet but I'm doing it right and it's not scary like it used to be.

It was really a matter of teaching the right leg (and moreso, the hip) to turn perpendicular to my left foot, which isn't something hips naturally like to do (try it! put all your weight on your left foot, knee bent, and stick your right leg out in front of you, still on the floor and your toes pointing directly left...)

So, that figured out, we started working on teaching dumb leg to do the same thing. That's going to come more slowly but at least I know what it's supposed to feel like and I'll spend the week jutting my left leg out and pointing my toes right so that my hip and muscles learn to do that without such a fight.

The backwards work is getting better and more comfortable, too. Well, less uncomfortable. :) I almost started to get a feel for the hip swivel that goes with it. It uses very different muscles in the lower leg though, so my feet and calves get tired and angry very quickly. I need to take a walk around the neighborhood backwards, I think.

Did a few good crossovers but the ice at Willowbrook was quite crowded due to a big group of kids that showed up. Even the other instructor and student who were working were having trouble finding the space to do drills.

Since I'm gone this weekend, I'm going to try and get a good skate in on Wednesday. If Coach can't go Tuesday or Wednesday night, I'll try to go at lunch on Wednesday to Willowbrook so I can skate on nice ice.

Today we're going to the driving range for a bit. Sure is hot and humid out though. Blech.

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