badger_14

Great job! Welcome to the cult I mean uh ... :)

I'm not listed, but I'm trying to train my dad to ask better questions. For his own sake and mine. (and my brothers and aunts and uncles, who also get this information thirdhand.)

(heh, I have an anxiety disorder as well) The hospital decided they'll do surgery tomorrow (Monday), but since my dad's not good at asking questions, I don't know why. I guess it's a positive sign? I'd feel better if I wasn't getting all of this third-hand through my dad, who is not adept at relaying information. (I have a cold right now, so visiting the hospital myself is definitely out of the question.)

My mom was in rehab (after hospital) for about a week, but today they did a CT scan and her brain bleed is worse, so they transferred her back to Man's Greatest Hospital for surgery to relieve the pressure. That should happen tomorrow.

6 hours ago, BenderHockey said:Just booked flights/hotel in London. First trip outside the US. Exciting! Have fun.

Nope. Like knee pads, it has not been at the top of my priority list for equipment. I am usually fairly well protected with a dangler and my c/a. Bruises come standard with the goalie package, but if you work extra especially hard, you can earn a free trip to the hospital.

Well, you do look more svelte than the initial pictures I saw of you. Good angle? *shrug* Any way you can sneak in some more active time? (other than hockey.) I've contemplated a neck guard. Not for the 10 year olds, but more for the 50 year old ex-junior players who could probably break my stick with a shot, nevermind my softer parts.

Optimus, if you don't mind my saying so, it's really apparently how much weight you've lost since starting goal. Beedee - jeebus. All of your marbles still intact after that? I finally have the day off today (ahh no obligations) and went down the street for stick and puck. I tested out the Bauer kneeguards. They were strange at first, but did not feel too bulky at all, and there was only a bit of slippage near the end, which can be fixed by adjusting the straps. They are quite stiff, in particular down in butterfly they dig a little bit into the outside of my thigh. This is probably also because I am sort of fat. But they were overall comfortable. I don't want to test them in a game yet, I'll skate a few more times in a controlled environment with them to break them in and find the right adjustment. Meanwhile, a ten year old caught me in the collarbone with a close, high shot and now I have a bruise. But, the rink manager insisted my ice time was "on the house" (it's usually $5 for goalies) because I've always helped with nets and equipment when coaching, and am always helpful and encouraging to the kids even when not technically coaching. So that was nice. (I wanted to pay, I tried.)

We sang Holly Near's I Am Willing There's not a good recording of the choral version, but the chorus (I am open, I am willing) is sung by the group and the verses are sung solo.

Due to an influx of players (now regularly 12 - 14 skaters, 14 being the cap), the Saturday games have kicked up a notch or two in pace. The other goalie remarked on it as well. We got rained on this past Saturday, but ended up tying at 10-10. It was an intense game, hardly any chance to catch a breath nevermind a drink, but I felt I played pretty well. It did feel like 9:45 by 9:30, though. Word on the street is that the Big Guy With Big Shot from last week played varsity in high school, but hasn't played at all in about 10 years. The other goalie is concerned his skills will quickly return to par and that we're going to be absolutely hosed when his accuracy improves. (not in terms of being scored on, but in terms of 'this is going to hurt even with appropriate padding') Tuesday is (at last) a chance to get to stick practice, roll around on the ice, practice movement, all that good stuff. Still trying to get the time of day from the coaching outfit down the street, I expect they're busy with all the kids doing pre-tryout and pre-playoff stuff.

Sang my very first (in all my choral life, since I was still a treble voice) solo this morning! I was so nervous but everyone loved it - the minister and many congregants came up to me after the service, as well as members of the choir (and folks who are far more experienced and trained singers). My choir director described it as "meaningful and moving", words I know she does not use lightly, so I am very proud of myself. Not sure if I want to do another one soon, but now I know that I could!

Today's the birthday of one of my work-kids- I don't see her regularly now she's in school, but it's break and she came in today with her brother and her friend and friend's little sister. Her mom told me that she had asked kiddo what she wanted to do, like what kind of fun thing for her birthday, and she thought for a moment and asked: "Today's Friday, right?" "Yes, it is." "Friday is Erik's day at the gym! We HAVE to go to the gym and see Erik!" That's just all kinds of cute.

My understanding from my eye doctor(s) was that the discrepancy between the eyes so severe that if I wore contacts I'd just be dizzy and off-balance all the time. If the goggles fit well and are cheaper and will last longer ... I'll just roll with the goggles. I can adjust to the discrepancy but I'd like to give goggles a try.

I'm not a good candidate for contacts. Both in terms of vision correction and hating to put things in my eyes.

We had a new player at the Russian Embassy today. Big, strong, good puckhandling and a nightmare of a shot. He only took a few shots on me. One went slightly wide and got stuck in the mesh. Literally, it stuck halfway through. Couldn't poke it out. My defenceman had to come over and yank it out. Then he took one that clanked off the crossbar and ricocheted back into the neutral zone. I thought: hm, you know, maybe it's for the best that I'm not physically blocking these. I mean - now I know what he can do, and I can prep for it (mentally, anyway), but in the immediate sense... the idea of one of those shots hitting my mask, or throat protector, or some less-protected corner of my body... We tied, though, 7-7, which was nice. The other goalie was stopping basically everything. But there were 7 skaters a side, 4v4, and it was a nice, up-tempo game with a lot of shots and no time for pause. I think I like small ice/4v4 better than full ice/5v5. Part of it, though, may be that my depth perception is wonky without glasses (extremely nearsighted in one eye, mildly nearsighted in the other). If anyone can recommend a good discount eyeglasses website with sport goggles for sale... (medicaid pays for one pair of glasses every two years, and you can select from one of 14 different frames, none of which are goggles.)

Subbed in for an actual league game last night - and lost. I felt bad, because the team was obviously trying really hard - the goalie at the other end was stopping everything. It was 7-2, but I discount one because I had it, but the other team jabbed me in the hip to dislodge it. Everything else was pretty much an honest goal or minimal defence. But like I said - I don't want to put any blame on my own team because they were playing pretty well (D-level/novice league), they just couldn't get it past the other goalie. (not for lack of trying). I had hoped to make their record 1-3-0, but it stands at 0-4-0. So there we are. The company that operates most of the state-owned rinks is trying to put together another tournament, in April. I think I'll sign up, and see if anything comes of it. Last time they tried was a 1-day Black Friday tournament, but they didn't get enough players to host it. My luck with tournaments (as a skater) has been horrendous, but I'd like to try.

Thanks. I'm told that as of today she's much better - more coherent, though she has no recollection of my visit on Monday (usually my dad visits, but there was a snowstorm Monday, and my partner and I happened to be posted by the hospital when we were called back to the garage to end shift, so I made a quick detour), and they're working on moving her to a regular bed (not ICU) and trying to convince her to go to inpatient rehab for a while.

My mom's in the hospital, again. She went in Thursday for what turned out to be pneumonia and a compression fracture (vertebral), then while she was in that hospital she fell, ended up with a brain bleed, and is now in a different (larger) hospital. She's a mess, but the bleed hasn't gotten any worse at least.

They're a really great bunch of guys. They've had me as a goalie literally since I first started - I came to the rink for a clinic, showed up early, and Peter (who runs the skate) was like "hey! come and goalie for us!" The fact that I had never played goal except on asphalt before did not deter him. And, in spite of that, they've stuck with me. I had mentioned my "goalie birthday" to Peter a few weeks ago (in the context of "I'll try to be less hard on myself after my 1 year mark") but I was in no way expecting any kind of acknowledgment, and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

My teammates celebrated my "goalie birthday" (as of tomorrow, I've been playing goal for one year) with much applause and a copy of "Red Army". I couldn't ask for a nicer bunch to skate with.

I had a good game - felt much more relaxed, I think having the movement practice on Tuesday helped. I made more of an effort to butterfly slide properly (vs. shifting my hips) and ended up in unexpected places, so that will take more practice, but I got back alright. I did let by a dumb goal or two. However: Tomorrow is my "goalie birthday" (as my teammates called it - that's one year now of playing goal) and so today they surprised me after the game with a present (a copy of "Red Army") and lots of applause. Best team.

I might be biased because 3v3 (or 4v4) is virtually all I play, but it doesn't take much to adapt to it. It's true there aren't as many breaks as in full ice 5v5, but you just get extra good at keeping one eye on the play while downing a swig of water. It's what the long-nozzle water bottles are for, after all - drinking through the cage. You do see a lot of the puck, although the trade-off for playing on small ice is that (for me) when I go to regulation ice I have to adapt to the angles, and more of the shots are from a distance rather than scrambles close in, with more bodies to hit along the way. It's sort of like - well, when you haven't gotten new glasses for a while, or the first time you get glasses and you suddenly see so much more clearly, but also get dazed and lopsided because you aren't used to seeing that way. (of course this analogy only works for the half-blind goalies among us.) It's exciting, anyway, and I encourage everyone to try it.

Stick time down the street was pretty quiet. Me, a dad putting his son a grueling-looking practice, a kid getting a private lesson with one of the coaches, and later two kids and their dad. I asked the kid and the coach if they would like a goalie to shoot on, they said yes, so that was a nice 45 minutes or so. I had plenty of time to stretch and sprawl and work on movement without game pressure, the kid seemed to enjoy getting a goalie instead of just an open net, worked out for both of us.

My Saturday group plays on a small ice surface - I don't know the exact dimensions, I think it's 130x60 - so there are never really any "slow, trickling" shots from the point. There's just not enough space. It is also why I usually face a lot of shots (more than 20-25) - 4v4 on the small ice is much faster, much more puck movement generally than 5x5 on regulation ice. (unless I am playing against Raytheon, or a similarly skilled group). Many of the goals are simply me not being fast enough to follow the puck as player A passes it to B to C and C shoots - not tracking the puck, per se, but actually getting to it, because it's like playing in a pinball machine some days.

I would wager they had twenty or twenty-five shots on me, but 5 or 6 out of 20-25 is pretty awful. I would like to get to a point where like ... if I was in a D league, I could win maybe half the games. This seems like a not-unreasonable standard. I have been very sick the past two weeks, but I don't want to make excuses for anything. You might be surprised how many shift workers hit up lunchtime hockey. There's a skate Tu/Th/F run by a neighboring town's rink, and it's like - 12 to a bench, not counting the guys on the ice. If people know about it - and the rink is quite busy with school and youth hockey and adult leagues, so if it's posted, people certainly know about it - it could be fairly crowded. $10/skater is a pretty typical price for an hour. They're charging goalies $5 which is very unusual (90% of the time goalies are free at any skate). What I will probably do at some point is schedule another lesson with the folks down the street, get an objective eye on things, and go from there.