IPv6Freely

I've been extremely happy with mine. To go along with what @bootsmagee mentioned, not having an adjustment period after a fresh sharpen is wonderful. Although in my case the adjustment wasn't from the wrong hollow so much as just going for so long without getting them done that they felt night and day when I'd eventually get them sharpened. So that's where the consistency thing comes in for me. I have absolutely no doubt that an expert sharpener would do a better job overall. But since I don't have one of those near here, I will take the consistency knowing what it will feel like every time I step on the ice any day. And even if I did have one nearby, I still like that I can do mine before every skate (even if sometimes it's just 2 passes). So really, even if an expert sharpener was available, I'll still take the convenience and consistency any day. If I wasn't a beer leaguer I might feel differently and want the absolute best no matter the cost or convenience, but for me this is just a better option across the board.

I play pickup with an 81 year old with some of the best hands I've ever seen. Every pass he makes is right on your tape. I hope to still be alive at 81, let alone playing hockey!

It hit me in the side of the head after it hit the shoulder. Didn't hurt, just some ringing from the loudness and took the mask off to let the refs know I needed a second to let that subside. The one off the teammates skate was a fluke but I should have had the stick down. Lesson learned. I'll never make that mistake again. The rebound on the toe save... meh, yes they could have cleared that but realistically that was the only one of the last 3 goals (all of which happened in a span of 2 minutes) that wasn't garbage. Last night we have two defensive giveaways in our own end with our D-men trying to make a fancy pass from just inside our blue line, both of which ended up in our net. I should have had both of them though. The first goal was a breakaway. Ended up losing in a shootout that I'm still beating myself up over. Stopped the first shot but the next two were the exact same move and both of them beat me. My right to left movement sucks.

I am a garbage goalie. Bottom of the league in every category.

The injury isn't even a factor anymore. I'm just not very good. Movements are crap. Mostly because of my weight and my complete lack of flexibility.

I don't know if this would be considered "sweet", but I just put a dangler on my goalie mask and a cage on my player helmet. I decided my luck with regards to hockey injuries had run out, so now trying to reduce some risks.

Looking good!

Well, I know which shop I will never ever be going to now.

Nice, that's awesome and makes a lot of sense to do.

And now this week's video. Finally, a win. Should not have been anywhere near this close, but I'll take it after that long losing streak. Between the streak and my injury, this is my first win since May. Ouch. Also, now that I have no pain in the foot or ankle anymore (it's now like it never happened), it's time to start working on some things again. Both goalie specific things, and also weight loss and working out again. I'm terrible at this point and I have to figure out how to get better without having any ice time besides games.

Well that didn't take long. You're already infinitely better than I am...

I forgot to upload last week's game. We had 6 skaters, one of whom played the entire game. It was actually a defensive gem, but that meant not many scoring changes for us either. It's a super short video because I barely did anything. This really could have gone either way.

Winterfest will be my first time on player skates since some game 7 hero broke my ankle in June. Absolutely no plans to play in that league again. I ended up only playing 4 games total that season, too. That's some expensive hockey!

How long did you bake them for? Maybe try a heat gun and punch the area out a bit?

Yup same here, rink pro shop is closed by the time I get there for my games. Plus it's been terrible every time I've had them done there. Now I just pop the skates in while I'm packing my bag. I envy those who have a competent sharpener who is convenient to use. But I guess that makes me the ideal demographic for this thing.

I'd stick with what you have if you're happy with it. The Sparx is really not meant to replace a real setup. It does a good job and is fast and easy and convenient, but to be honest I wouldn't have bought it if there were competent pro shops near me. But for what it is, it's great.

I don't think I even need to say it.

This made my day. I'd vote for him.

I'm with you there. It was becoming less and less fun. Then I kind of missed it a bit after going full time goalie, played 4 games, and had some idiot break my ankle. So... that sure put an end to that...

I don't use the latter two for the most part (I only use IG to post images to Twitter and FB at the same time). My Facebook is still pretty essential though. I just removed almost everyone except close friends and immediate family, and removed all the pages I followed. I see 2-3 posts a day, maximum. I may have 30 people on there. Twitter is another story, but I'm in IT so it's pretty essential. Though I've pared that down a ton too. Lists help a lot with that (can see posts from companies, etc. without actually following them). Amazing how much you don't miss the noise.

My commute would go from 20 minutes to over an hour if I didn't use it. I-15 south from San Marcos to Rancho Bernardo. Ill save more in tolls with the Model 3 than I will in gas.

FasTrak toll fees. Or, more specifically, toll fee pre-pay replenishments. Basically, your usage has to be pre-paid, so they basically pull an amount from your bank account and into your FasTrak account (just like a Starbucks card, for example) to cover your toll fees “based on your usage pattern". Except this month they pulled $250 more than my highest EVER toll usage amount ($180). WHY?? Sounds like their algorithm to calculate your usage pattern is REALLY broken. To use the Starbucks card analogy again, that's like topping up your card with $50 to buy a coffee. Eventually you'll use it, sure. But it still sucks at the time. At least with Starbucks I can just tap a button on my phone to top it up, and I get to choose the amount.

6 straight losses (including a forfeit) since I came back from injury. This sucks.

Pickup from tuesday. Not bad, not great. Came out to challenge a point shot which ended up being 100x slower than I expected so it just went right through the 5-hole. One guy thought it was hilarious. I didn't. You'll see the result. I definitely don't normally do anything like this, but to be honest I was either going to slide into the puck, poke check him, and ended up doing neither and just gave him a shove instead. It was a dick move, I'm aware. I'd just had enough of him for the night. For what it's worth, the guys liked it because he doesn't pass and just cherry picks for breakaways all the time. Still, shoulda just poke checked him. Oh well.

Got a new goalie pant shell. Don't really need it but couldn't pass it up.