MThockeydad

My youngest cousin and her husband came to MT from Texas over her spring break (she's a 4th grade teacher) for some skiing. Too bad the cold weather left last week. They're going to have some spring corn/slushy conditions. On the bright note, he grew up in Wisconsin and went to school at Michigan Tech. I borrowed gear for him and took him to drop-in last night. For not having skated much in the 3 years they've lived in Texas, he is GOOD! Too bad they don't live closer.

Ice on our local (outdoor) rink goes out next week. :( It's been a great season.

Win-win!! Treat the kid just like every other player and hopefully parent will see that the kid is still getting great coaching in the absence of parent's badgering. Worst case, the kid will become an adult and see in hindsight that the helicopter egomaniac parent was wrong and the coaches were right.

I saw some awesome sportsmanship Saturday night at the Montana Girls State hockey tourney. Watching the end of the U19 semifinal game between Miles City and Bozeman, Bozeman won 10-2. After the teams shook hands the Miles City goalie was in the dumps as she skated back to the net to retrieve her water bottle. Four of the Bozeman forwards skated back, hugged her, and escorted her off the ice. Glasgow beat our U14 girls 10-0; after the teams shook hands the Glasgow girls made a double line on either side of the door and congratulated our girls for playing well (which they did) as they skated off the ice. Some people complain about "kids today". We tell our daughters that somebody is always watching. It's true, but people also notice the good things. I see great kids whose parents and coaches have them not only skilled at hockey, but great at life. Well done, ladies.

HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY LIKE SOMETHING CRAPPY LIKE THIS!?! Talked to the septic pumper who pumped the tank. They said it's happened a lot in our area this winter. Huge deep freeze in December, thawing all January, hard freeze last week, 40º+F temps last week. Frost is deep, thawing shallow, nowhere for the melt water to go. On the bright side, it looks like my wife gets new carpet downstairs!!

Septic backed up last night. Best case, frost in the ground under our drainfield and rapid thaw this past week caused it to back up. Worst case, our drainfield is screwed and we have to replace it. On the bright side, I know it's not the tank because we just had it pumped this summer.

Sorry to hear that. I'd watch the dog if I lived closer. Sounds like my situation is the inverse of yours! My brother (mostly SIL) was frosty to my parents, too...their getting invited to go down for Christmas was a minor miracle. I'll cross my fingers for you that some flights work out.

My brother and SIL live in Colorado. When they come to MT, they spend the entire week with her family. We haven't been invited down there yet (they moved back to CO from MD two years ago). I had to stop letting it bother me. They had a baby girl back in September, haven't met her yet. Now with a family of his own, I think my brother is starting to miss us a little. I'm hopeful for this summer, but not holding my breath.

@moteef17, maybe you and your teammate need to go out for a beer and hash things out. Sorry about the temple hit. That sucks. @McDugan, no, not in construction.

My wife tried hockey at women's drop-in last night. She didn't love it. At least she tried it. Have to give her huge credit. Now she understands how difficult it is--and how much our girls have learned in a year.

I cancelled a "guy's trip" vacation for this interview, too. Silver lining is that I'll still get to watch my daughters' squirt games this weekend that I'd have missed if I went on the trip.

I messed up a proposal for a huge project opportunity. We got uninvited to the project interview. Left one page out of a .pdf file. When you and your competitors are all fairly close in qualifications, the owner can and will use those little things to weed one out.

Seriously!?!? Call your insurance agent and give them the heads-up that they might want to go after the person contracted to salt/sand your driveway because someone fell down.

I played in a benefit tournament this weekend for our youth hockey association. I I got to play with and against Tiger Williams, Dean Kennedy, Murray Craven, and Lanny McDonald. They might be "retired", but they're far from "tired!!" It's amazing what the 60-ish guys can do. They're so smooth and efficient on the ice and pass like lasers. Had fun talking the beef market in the locker room with Dean. Working on some end-of-season Sharks game tickets for my girls's spring break.

I had to cancel a guys' trip to Southern California early next month. Why is this in the Sweet Spot? Canceled because we've been invited to a huge project interview and I won't have to miss my girls' hockey games!

Assuming CA insurance laws are anything like US insurance laws, the insurance company should "subrogate" the cost of your claim and seek compensation from the city. If that's successful, they get their $5,053.06 back and you get your $1,000 back. It also costs them less in the long run to use their resources to pursue the claim against the city instead of writing off the $4k they paid out on yoru claim. Use your broker to assist you in this process..that's what he or she is there for, not just to sell you insurance. Use the word subrogate. Ask your agent to help you by having the insurance subrogate the loss against the city. Can you get access to city maintenance records or work orders?

"I can assure you that nobody would be better for the position being considered." :)

Fair statement when you put it that simply. I can't argue with that. :)

I agree, but neither should be a detriment to the other. Students should learn to write in high school. They should also learn some vocational skills. Their critical thinking and leadership skills should be honed in postsecondary studies. I had college professors who were trying to teach students to be just like them (academics), instead of promoting well-rounded, marketable individuals with diverse skill sets. Example: My professors wouldn't approve any construction engineering internships where the interns would be doing manual labor. They would only approve internships where students were in an office setting. This was an opportunity to broaden their skillset while not being a detriment to their academic experience. This is a huge disservice; if students had no prior experience, they were far less marketable than students who had independently started "from the bottom up". When I need to go in the field to communicate tasks to the carpenters and laborers doing them, it makes a big difference that I can speak their language.

As are my Construction Engineering degrees. I work in my degree field, but that doesn't change the fact that for the most part, college professors live in a small bubble and do not prepare students for the real world. My real world and high school vocational classes (welding, metals, woods, typing, electronics, drafting) were every bit as much an asset as the 4 year diploma and the master's. I agree in part. Some high school curricula have focused on "college prep" instead of "life prep". In that sense, college can't make up for something that it had a hand in creating (highly educated people without diverse marketable skills) "Get a college education" is what students hear. "Get marketable skills" is what they should be told.

College is a big bubble for the academics who run the college. Why should they burst their own bubble by keeping it real for the people who subsidize their bread line?

That sucks. :do not like: I'm grateful to have a lot of good parents and good kids on my daughters' teams. I hope our coaches feel the same way!! Got home from a squirt tournament, headed to adult drop-in, and the furnace blower fan wheel blew up about 1am while I was asleep. I was exhausted and didn't even hear it, but fortunately my wife did and shut the furnace off. 3-4 days of running the wood stove non-stop until the part comes in. Fortunately I can fix it myself.

Finish that last year of nursing school. Nurses can more than pay the bills in most areas, plus you'll have plenty of time to explore a subsequent alternate career or hobbies at your leisure. Even another year of student loans can be paid off in only a year or two on an RN salary!

Bottom number is 8 3/4 DA T? 9

otg28 and I traded some PM's. It's all good. His concern was rooted in experience. He advised I should watch out for older girls and their attitudes, especially should she have an off game. There are really nice girls on the team--but it was not something I had considered, and I thanked him for that.