Hockey, Links, Yarn, Knitting. All Good!

I've been getting so much done today, listing it all would make me tired--or, rather, more tired, since the actual doing has been tiring already. In a good, accomplishy way, but still. Of course, watching the Bruins win raised my energy level a bit! They managed to win by more than a goal! In regulation! Nice.

Not that I wasn't happy with Thursday's win, just exhausted: happy zombie. Though I do hope this picture of the celebration makes Hockey Hugs:

I mean, do you know how high Marchand had to jump to be over Chara's head? Ah, Marchand: as Puck Daddy referred to him, "the little guy with the big heart and even bigger nose."

And then the next sentence: "That's Patrice Bergeron with the game-winning assist, as if you had to ask." According to a quick check, I first mentioned Bergeron on this blog on August 10, 2006, a mere day after starting the blog. This is how much a fan of his I am (as you may have noticed, in the 50+ times I've mentioned him). So you can imagine how pleased I am to see him getting some serious appreciation: on Puck Daddy, on ESPN, and from the boys at Backhand Shelf, on the podcast, and also a blog post, "Perfect Patrice," dedicated to his wonder. That's right!

I think that catches me up on hockey. What about yarn? I went to the Webs tent sale yesterday with friends--fabulous! And though I spent $100, I could easily, oh so easily have spent two or three times that, so it was actually restrained.

I was very happy to see that the Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarn was 25% off. There wasn't much of the lightweight left, but two skeins of mediumweight in lovely blue will make me something beautiful, I know:

There was also Ella Rae Lace Merino, like I used recently and liked, half off, discontinued colors. Yes please!

I know, more blue. What can I say, I love it! This blue period, first noted over two years ago,shows no signs of stopping. Though it does get broken up. The skein on the right has colors like a kaleidoscope, different on all sides. See?

When I went to put it on the shelf, it found a happy home next to this one, from Webs last fall:

I also got a skein, in Bruins-gold, of impossibly soft yarn that I'm thinking would make a nice little cowl.

Debbie Bliss Andes, which is baby alpaca and silk. Go. Find some. Revel in the soft.

My final purchase was not on sale, but too beautiful for me to mind that. A little Lantern Moon project bag, in the most gorgeous colors, inside and out.

That doesn't even capture it fully. Love it.

As well as yarn, there was knitting. It's rare for me to have car time when I'm not the driver! I got one sock safely around the heel, so it can be purse-ready:

And I finally finished the previous pair, that kept getting set aside for not being in the right place at a pertinent time. Like for the Yarn Harlot's lecture, and the Bruins game. Whoops! Done at last.

If you look closely, you'll see the heels don't match.

I'm such a rebel. Which one do you like better in this yarn? (Knit Picks Stroll, by the way.)

*****
Do you read the blog Love and Hisses? If not, don't miss Miri's moment in the sun. Maybe the right someone will see it! (If not, I'm putting up fliers around town. Operation Get Her Out of Here is in full swing!)

*****
Time to face the Sunday night. Weekends should all be three days long, at least. And getting ready for a trip? Absolutely! (I don't leave until Friday, but I have plenty to do before then.)

Look out: here comes Monday!

You Don't Really See Me; I'm Not Really Here

The Bruins won last night, and naturally I'm delighted by that, but ohhh, it had to go into overtime, didn't it? Like we didn't already do that this week? Like I get enough sleep as it is? My eyes didn't want to open all day. It isn't even 8:30 and my body is all, Why aren't we in bed? So I'm just here to say, nothing tonight. Maybe tomorrow night, after the tent sale. Depends how it goes. Good night!

(Mostly) Non-Hockey At Last: Lilacs and License Plates and Phone Calls

I've been watching and waiting for the lilacs since April, in vain (the lilac is a stealthy bush, and somehow hard to notice when not in flower). I seem to remember picking some for my mother last year when she was in town, and that would have been in April, yet there was nothing and nothing this year. Finally, a week ago, I saw the first ones, and by the beginning of this week, they were everywhere. Ahhh. So beautiful! I only have one picture, a quick from-the-car shot, to prove it:

If you want to see more, time-travel back to a few years ago, when I went nuts at the Arnold Arboretum. There are enough lilacs pictures there to make anyone happy.

Another thing I've been looking for is goslings, and the little fluff-balls are not yet everywhere. I did see some last week, as this photo proves:

I know. But look on the right side, in front of the adult, and there's one there. Or here, there's another one to the left: it looks like a yellow-ish tussock of grass:

Yeah, you almost have to take my word for it. The funny thing is, I haven't seen any since, just adults (and sometimes none at all), so who knows. They're running late this year, too, I guess.

Knitting! I don't have updated blanket photos; one of these days. Take my word for it that progress is being made. Meanwhile, last week, I made a little thing for the friend that I visited on Sunday; I wanted her to have a little something tangible to remind her of her friends and their support when no one was there. So I made two squares and stitched them together for a little pillow. One was the Heart Dishcloth pattern:

The other was the Love Cloth, the same as I made recently for a blanket contribution.

Together but separate:

And all together:

That is one crappy picture, but anyway you get the idea.

*****
There have been some good license plates around recently, which have not pushed their way onto the blog due to all the other angst. Like this one, which I wondered, does everyone know this at sight?

Or only those of us with Scandinavian roots? Because Svensk, that's Swedish, as confirmed by the sticker that was on the back window of this vehicle.

Then there are these two, which I saw the same day, but separately. One:

And two:

I prefer to loaf, thanks, and even that at half speed!

I also enjoyed this one:

Something about the ay-oh makes me think of this again:

To close out the plates, how about this one?

That's a Verizon truck, and yes, he was driving with a bag hanging off the back, mostly covering the plate. I keep wondering, was that on purpose, or did he get out at his next stop and say, whoops!

*****
I'm not a fan of making phone calls, and for a while I've been putting off some necessary making-appointments calls, but today I finally sat down and did it. It's not that hard, and I don't know why I put it off, but I do, every time. Now I have rescheduled the dentist appointment I missed over the migraine weekend, and scheduled my annual mammogram (ugh) and the car's oil change. Whee, three things crossed off the list and put on the calendar at once! And what a calendar: within a month, I'm seeing the contact lens guy, the chiropractor, the dentist, mammogram, my primary-care, the dermatologist, hairdresser ... whew!

One more call I want to make is to the Globe, to change my subscription. I've been frustrated so long with the weekday delivery, always late, often thrown among the trash cans, and now that I have the iPad, I'm going to switch to digital during the week, and only get the "paper" paper delivered on the weekends. I tried out the iPad app and the experience suits me fine, plus I won't have to wait for Mister Doofus to swing by. And, less to recycle! I think the cost is going to work out much the same, and the experience will fit my needs better. We call that win-win.

*****
Now, I know, I know, hockey, but I only said I'd try not to keep posting about hockey. At least this hasn't been all hockey! But two things must go here.

First on the Marek vs Wyshynski podcast Tuesday, they were thanking their guest, San Jose Sharks broadcaster Drew Remenda, and finished, "...we admire the cut of your jib." To which he promptly came back, "Thank you very much. You know what, that's never been admired before, and I've always said to people, I have terrific jib." I guess you don't get far as a broadcaster without being able to think on your feet, but it certainly made me laugh!

Second, video of Jack Edwards calling the OT goal Monday night. Man, that's never going to get old.

As Puck Daddy calls it, "expectedly animated", but I also like Andy Brickley's reaction: Brick is far less vocal a homer than Jack is, but he spent part of his playing career in Boston, and he's clearly delighted for them. And then he carefully adjusts his pocket square. While Jack lets the moment speak for itself.

Ahhh.

Not What I Thought I'd Be Writing After Game 7

Melissa commented on last night's post today to ask if I was alive after the excitement, and yes I am, thanks for asking! After blogging last night, I turned off the computer and took the iPad to watch the Bruins game, and about five minutes into the third period, I was frustrated and upset, and upset with myself for being upset. The Bruins were down 4-1, they weren't playing very well, certainly they Weren't Getting It Done, and this is it, why am I upset, I knew this was coming, all season they've done this, why am I upset, damn it, this is it. Sniff. Having had a sad day, I had felt myself to be somewhat insulated from pre-game jitters, but now that it was in front of me, well, let's just say it wasn't improving my mood any.

Then Nathan Horton scored, making it 4-2, and I was honestly annoyed. You can't just lose quietly, you keep trying to raise my hopes, to get me to believe, before you crush me again? Well, I don't believe. Damn it. A friend who's a Red Sox fan was just telling me how she lost hope for a while during their 2004 run, and when she went to the last game, and they were giving out buttons that said something like "I never stopped believing," she wouldn't take one, because "I did stop!" That's where I was.

I was getting ready for bed. Game still on in the background, oh they're pulling the goalie, how cute, it's like they believe they can ... hmmm, they scored? 4-3 then. OK. How will they lose? Will this be it? Will Toronto score again now, the knife to the heart?

Goalie still pulled, extra attacker on, under a minute left, and Bergeron, my Bergeron, scored. Tie game. Bedlam at the Garden. And I'm not yelling, not jumping, just looking at the TV, puzzled. Did that just happen? Hmmm. Oh, so they're going to go to OT? Well, okay, Toronto will win and it will be crushing. Just like last year, just like so many other times. Shit.

But I watched. And with Chara forming a six-foot-nine, 255-pound screen in front of the goal, Bergeron scored again. In overtime.

They won.

The game, the series. They won. The Bruins. Won.

They won?

I just sat there, not yelling, not excited, just ... dumbfounded. Did that just happen? (I'm not the only one who asked that question, either.) Did I just see that? Is that Bergeron, running and jumping up and down on his skates? Am I awake?

"Insane Game 7 Rally," NHL.com is calling it today; "miraculous rally" and "the wildest game of this year's playoffs" from the Hockey News, "epic" from Backhand Shelf. I've certainly never seen anything like it. The closest I can recall is a non-Bruins game seven from a few years back (knowing my memory, probably more like ten, or twenty, but who knows), I think it was the Devils, and maybe Washington, and one team was down by two goals, I want to say, and then scored three times in like the last minute to win, stunning the other team completely. Does anyone else remember that? Am I making it up? My memories are vague enough (and possibly flat-out wrong, since no one else brought it up today) that I am not having success searching it out.

Other coverage of this one: the game summary in GIFs, and a nicely written piece from the other side. If you're really interested (and I'm not judging if you're not) and have half an hour, here's the condensed game: goals, saves, hits, the works. Since I couldn't bear to really watch the end last night, I felt like I was seeing it for the first time! Hearts of lions, indeed. Also kudos to whoever put it together, for including the part where, when they were down 4-1, Jack talked about how Toronto was going to eliminate the Bruins "unless they suffer a colossal collapse..." Check!

Anyway. The Bruins advance to round two, how about that? And, I was shocked to hear, they haven't faced the Rangers in the playoffs in 40 years. How is that possible? 1973? When they've played Montreal a bazillion times* in that span? Weird.
*Okay, only 18, but still. Almost every second year versus 0-for-40? How does that happen?

Fun fact: the Rangers have a player, Mats Zuccarello, who is listed at five-foot-seven. Can't wait to see him next to Chara! Fourteen inches difference? That will make a fun photo. Much like this one, of Sabres teammates John Scott and Nathan Gerbe, who are 15 inches apart (as seen on Backhand Shelf, awhile back).

Ottawa-Pittsburgh starts tonight*, Chicago-Detroit tomorrow, but the Bruins, thankfully, get a few days off (after 3 games in 4 nights), and don't play until Thursday. Then they very kindly do not disrupt my Saturday plans, and are playing game two on Sunday--in the afternoon, even, so I can get to sleep at a decent hour. It's all very kind of them. Because, you know, it's all about me.
*So does LA-San Jose, but I won't see any of those games due to the time difference (maybe, maybe Saturday's 9 PM start, if I'm awake after the Webs trip, but I doubt I'd stay up for the whole thing). Do we call this the Battle of California? The Cali Cup?

Semi-unrelated story: It is not at all unusual for me to meet someone and in so doing, become the biggest Bruins fan they know. I am not the biggest Bruins fan ever, I know that (I've seen the face-paint people), but a lot of people don't know a lot of Bruins fans, if you follow me, so when they meet me and I say things like, "I don't know why the Bruins keep losing, it's like they don't want me to be happy," it seems to make an impression. Not one I'm intentionally setting out to make, but it does happen. As an example, one of my coworkers sent me an email this morning that he was thinking of me last night, with this picture:

So there's that. And last night at stitch and bitch, when I said I had to leave at the end of the first period so I'd be home in time for the second, someone asked me how long it is between periods, and when I said 18 minutes, she was pretty amused. (I think that's right, though; but I know, it's a fairly specific answer.)

And now it appears to have happened with the chiropractor, who I only met for the first time a few months ago, remember. First, he recently gave me a Bruins rubber bracelet (actually, a handful so I can give some to friends), which kind of makes sense because he's in healthcare and these have the Hallmark Health logo on them (healthcare provider of the Boston Bruins). Then, yesterday he gave me a Bruins fleece jacket (or, more accurately, the office manager gave it to me). Which sounds a little ... funny as I write it out, but it didn't feel that way at all. More like, he came across it and thought oh, I know who would appreciate this. And of course, I do! And clearly, it carries some good karma in it, don't you think?

I'm starting to come down from the initial high. I did not get enough sleep last night, surprise surprise. Not long enough, too much adrenaline. It took me a bit to unwind enough to go to sleep, and then when my bladder woke me an hour before the alarm went off, my brain kept me from falling back to sleep. Earlier to bed tonight.

I wore a Bruins shirt to work today, under the non-casual-Friday layer, and due to my laundry status being Not Caught Up, I was down to my last clean Bruins shirt, the Terry O'Reilly! Not that there's anything wrong with it, of course, but it isn't the first choice for celebrating a team victory. Must do a rare mid-week load of laundry before Friday.

Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to write about something other than hockey (no promises). Maybe lilacs! And license plates!

Musings and some Videos and links

Last week's Monday was actually pretty good. Certainly not bad: if there was one thing that would make a Monday morning less annoying, it's having it follow a weekend like that one. My head doesn't hurt? Excellent! Let's get up and get moving. Mind you, I was (and am) still coughing up gunk periodically, which was/is incredibly disgusting, but if the head held off, I was okay with it. Granted, it was hard to work a full day, which I attributed at least in part to the way the weekend went: about 90 minutes before it was time to leave work that day, my brain went to Done mode. Another reason was that the report I was working on had Tremendous Issues, but, you know, I still couldn't leave early.

This Monday, well. Saturday was a busy day, in which I accomplished a lot, but it was rather tiring. I slept terribly Saturday night*, then had a long sad day with a friend whose marriage has suddenly fallen apart. (On a side note, I may be the world's least confrontational person, but I really want to get her husband in a room and have a Serious Talk with him. Well, maybe more a rant than a talk.) She's being so strong for the kids, but oh, man. It was draining, basically, and totally worth it if my being there helped her at all, but was I ever worn out last night. Then the Bruins did ... well, they didn't, actually, did they? (Their effort has been so poor, the malaise spread to their plane, which was grounded last night. No, really. That's how bad the wings have been [ba-dum-bump])(Dinner for 50 at 11 PM on a Sunday night? Suuuure, you're the Bruins.)
*Was it the coffee I had in the afternoon? Taking my first CoQ10 pill, which it turns out may cause insomnia in some people? Combination of both? Something else? Just one of those things? Who knows.

Thus, getting up today was not exciting. That's the point I'm trying to make. I slept much better last night (no caffeine late, and take the CoQ10 in the mornings instead, plus I took a tylenol PM), but I still felt congested, as well as sad, this morning. The marathon bombings made me wonder how people can be so awful, and the cheating husband and "friend" make me wonder the same thing on a smaller scale. It isn't my pain, directly, I can't carry it for her, but it's hard to get distance from it all the same.

The congestion, on the other hand, seemed like maybe it got a little better over the course of the day ... not all better, but less all-encompassing, anyway, and I'll settle for that. Maybe one of these days, I won't have to be sure I have cough drops and tissues with me all the time. Talking at stitch and bitch, along with a little yelling during the first period, have me hoarse again, but hopefully that will pass.

I'd be even happier if the Bruins won tonight, but to be candid I don't expect them to. They have been so up and down this season, and I have no reason to expect that they will be up tonight (much as I hope I am wrong). They had a decent first period, less so the second... This is probably it. Then at least the stress of watching them, and wondering which team will show up, will be over, and I can watch the rest of the playoffs from a peaceful position of not caring who wins.

Off to watch that period. Things that make me smile (other than the old standbys):

An astronaut singing Space Oddity in space, which is just too cool for words.

Same astronaut showing what happens when you wring out a wet washcloth in space, which is also too cool for words, in a different way.


A story of a kindergartner who understands the way the world is and should be, better than some adults do. Go, Quinn. Thank you for giving me some hope.

(And in case you don't go through that last one, though you should, you shouldn't miss the penguin video she included at the end. The video is just, you know, penguins waddling around, but the voices are fanTAStic. That made me smile!

Although, the language at the end is ... not necessarily what I expect of penguins. Just so you've been warned.)

Happy Mama Day

I've had a long day, and the Bruins game (ulp) starts soon, so I'm going with the "cute pictures for Mother's Day" thing. Here. This is all I have right now.

They're a bit of an odd mix, but somehow I feel they cover it all. Happy mama day.

Saturday, rainy and fine

It's been a pretty good day, in terms of getting things done. My head felt a little tight last night, giving me a major, non-hockey-related oh, shit feeling, but it was fine today, thankfully. The weather has been unlovely, though it didn't rain all day, just off and on, but the weird thing is the humidity--or rather, it's weird to have humidity again. Winter must really be over after all! My skin doesn't know what to make of it.

I did laundry in bunches, between trips out, for a total of eight loads; I'm not completely caught up from last weekend, but in much better shape. I went to Costco for a few things. And I took the baby back to the vet for his post-dental-work checkup.

What are you talking about?

He hated the trip, of course, but he did very well, and no more is required, deo gratias. His "report card" rated him Ideal for weight (that has to be a first for a cat of mine!) and Normal in appearance (bright, alert, and responsive), with a Pain Score of 0, and Mouth and Teeth were Normal. Excellent!

In the spirit of felines, then, here's a fun video of cats being silly. Even if you don't watch it all, do watch the first bit: the cat sleeping determinedly with its head deep in the plant pot is pretty funny.


What? I'm sleeping; stop pulling my ears. I'm perfectly comfortable, thank you. Go 'way.

Welp

In sports news, a team from Boston beat a Toronto team last night. Unfortunately for me, it was the Red Sox over the Blue Jays, not the Bruins over the Maple Leafs.

I can't fathom how the Bruins didn't come out charged up, excited to win on home ice, save themselves another trip over the border, and get a few days of rest before the second round. Instead, they came out flatter than roadkill and totally the opposite of what they should have been.

And honestly, Tuukka was the best player and I almost wish he hadn't been, because he kept them in it and kept them close enough that I couldn't relax until the final whistle. If they were going to lose, I'd rather they'd been blown out, and been as embarrassed as they should feel after that game.

So. They play tomorrow night. We'll see. On with the weekend.

Is It Game-Time Yet? What About Now?

I wore one of my Bruins t-shirts from the Cup year today (the checklist: beat Montreal, beat Philadelphia, beat Tampa Bay, beat Vancouver, bring home the Cup), and noticed that of the four opponents listed on the shirt, two teams didn't make the playoffs this year and two did but are already eliminated. How quickly things change, eh? In just two years.

I haven't been taking the photos off the camera frequently, so I forgot to blog about the recent experience I had with Stanley Cupcakes*.
*Perhaps it's because I was just watching Despicable Me** recently, but when I say "Stanley Cupcakes", I hear it mentally in Gru's voice. Stohn-ley! Cop-Cakes! The way he says Loyt! Bolb! when he sees the girls get into Vector's fortress. (Just me? Moving on.)
**I never saw that in the theater, but I caught it on TV once and was captivated when Gru goes to the bank to get funding for his evil plot, and the sign over the secret entrance says:
Bank of Evil
formerly Lehman Brothers

Anyway, yes, this is An Actual Thing the NHL is doing this year, in conjunction with Crumbs Bake Shop (which I hadn't even heard of before, not that I claim to be up on the cupcake shop boom). The coverage I first saw had the full set, but naturally, they aren't trying to sell all those around here. (The one in a thousand Montreal ones that might sell would hardly be worth hearing about it from the rest of us.) The shop I went to had the Bruins one, and the playoffs design, and that was it.

I got the Bruins one, naturally, and it was delicious. Large and messy, but delicious.

I couldn't bring myself to eat the logo, though: it seemed to tend toward sacrilege.

Which meant I had to throw it away. Is that less sacrilegious? I don't know. What would you have done?

*****
The weather today was much better than I was expecting. Not only was it a break between rain yesterday and rain tomorrow, but it was nice enough that I ate lunch outside again, AND had to give myself a big pep talk to go back inside. So a mixed blessing, really.

*****
The neti pot and I had a setback last night, my third night of this trial. You may recall that I didn't like it the first night, Tuesday, and then did I mention, I disliked it even more on the second try. I thought perhaps that I had put in a bit too much salt the second time, so I tried to make it less salty last night, but it still didn't go that well. I was wondering what else to change as I rinsed the pot, when it slipped out of my hand, fell the few inches into the sink, and shattered. Almost literally, money down the drain.

So. Now I have to decide again, am I doing this? Was three nights enough of a trial? It had no noticeable effect on my congestion*, and is messy and deeply unpleasant to me. But if I bought another one (ugh)(unbreakable if ugly), and gave it a longer test, might it still help? I don't know. I know I don't wanna, though. Perhaps I'll ask the chiropractor on Monday what he thinks. (I told him last time that I was thinking of getting one, though I found the whole idea so nasty, and his advice was a sympathetic, "Get over it.")
*Nose still runny, and stuffing up, still feeling the sinus pressure through the whole head (in that lovely why do my eyebrows hurt? way), still clearing my throat and coughing up gunk and generally being a joy to be around. Don't you want to invite me over now?

*****
Like this guy, glimpsed out my window last weekend:

I have a hockey game to watch tonight (the Bruins can clinch tonight, oh, please, oh, please, finish it tonight). One last thing before I go, though. I'm thinking of making a flyer for the get-rid-of-Miri plan, and looking for places to post it. What do you think of this? With suitable isn't she cute? photos?

Does Your Cat Need a Friend?
If your cat is lonely, here is the perfect solution: a cat who loves other cats. I got her after one of my two cats died, and the other was desperately lonely. She loved him, and helped him tremendously. She loves the cat I have now. She loved the cat where she was fostered, before I got her. Before she was rescued, she had been seen with another cat. As 100% of her known experiences show, she loves cats!
The catch? She doesn't trust people. This is not a pet, a cat who will sit on your lap or cuddle with your child. I've had her more than four years, and catching her to trim her claws or for the vet is an ordeal. (I can provide lots of advice on what has [and has not] worked for me.) Her fur is soft as a cloud, but I hardly ever get to touch it.
But hey, if you want her to keep another cat company, she's perfect! And pretty low-maintenance, since she would much rather be left alone by you, so she can cuddle up to the other cat.
She is estimated around seven years old, beautiful, medium-haired, fixed, micro-chipped, and up-to-date on shots. Free to good home; trial period available.

After the Game, zzzzzzzzz

Last night, after the Bruins, finally, in overtime, won the game, I saw this picture of the Bruins bear on Facebook:

I liked it, of course, but it turned out that instead of saying "sleep with a smile" it would have been more accurate to say "go to bed with a smile." I guess it makes sense that after all that adrenaline, getting to sleep was hard, and sleeping well was ... elusive. Still. Yawn. Blink, blink. I don't usually drink coffee at work (I have a cup at home in the morning), and today I had two cups, in the valiant attempt to stay awake.

We had a monthly meeting at work today that I'm supposed to go to, though I'm not sure why; very little of it applies to my job, and the part that does is generally wildly over-optimistic (all those reports are going to be published in May? Really? Even though the month is a third over, none of them have been through editing yet, and there are only two of us? That's ... interesting). There are enough of us that we don't even all fit in the conference room, so I elected to hang back, outside the door where I could see and hear but wouldn't distract anyone, and knit through the meeting in an attempt to stay focused. It kind of worked ... and I got a healthy chunk of knitting done.

Before:

After:

Who says meetings aren't productive? Would that it were more acceptable to knit at my desk when I am between reports; I would be closing in on the toe. But of course, when I'm at my computer, it isn't obvious if I am working, or (for example) listening to the Backhand Shelf podcast while drafting a blog post. If I'm knitting, it's sort of in your face. And while it isn't a secret that I'm between reports (and that there's nothing I can do about it), knitting seems kind of ... pushy. Less so in the meeting.

One of the people who spoke in the meeting, though doubtless a lovely person, had a truly unfortunate habit of saying "EM" (not um, EM) with great, great frequency as she spoke. Next time, I think I will time her, to see how long she speaks, and count the EMs, out of curiosity. Though, seriously, if speaking in front of others is part of her job, her boss should record her speaking, play it back to her, and make her count them. It might help her break the habit.

Other entertaining moment: hearing a native French speaker pronounce "sclerosis". It sounded quite beautiful!

I have GOT to go to bed early. Good night!

The Good, the Bad, and the Congested

I ate lunch outside Monday and Tuesday. On Monday it was pleasant, but with a cool edge; on Tuesday, the weather was glorious: 70, sunny, light breeze ... perfection. I would be very upset at the rain that came in today, were it not for the hope* that it will wash some of this effing pollen away from me. Oh, please. The yellow is so thick on the ground that I used it to detect uneven pavement this morning: hmmm, there's a thicker blob of yellow, is that a bad bump? And it was. When I drove through a rain shower, I was surprised by how much more clearly I could see through my back window. Must remember to clean that more often, this time of year.
*If the rain were more constant, "hope" would not come into it, but today's rain has been very on-again, off-again.

I still had some congestion-coughing in the night, and was clogged today; as expected, using the neti pot was not a one-and-done, all-better experience, nice as that would have been. I will keep it up for a bit and see how it goes. I have reached the point in this allergy cycle where Kleenex are starting to feel like sandpaper on my nose, so something needs to improve. I will not miss coughing up gunk, either; making myself gag with a bodily function is ... not something I enjoy. And the sentence "My cheekbones hurt" is one I could do without.

And I don't see why using the neti pot would have made me terribly tired, so probably it's a coincidence, but I had terrible trouble getting up and moving this morning. The alarm first goes off at 5:40, and I generally hit the snooze button a few times before getting up. This morning, I dragged myself up and it was ten to seven! Whoa. I did take a tylenol pm last night, but it doesn't generally have that much of an effect.

It's been challenging at work, too, with all this congestion. I hate to be the one coughing and clearing my throat all the time, because it bothers me when other people do that all day long. Recently, in fact, several people who sit near me all seemed to be having a bad day, colds or allergies or who knows, and I thought I was the only one bothered by it, when I got an e-mail from my nearest neighbor saying, "I am getting sick just listening to the snuffling (redacted) team. It’s only a matter of time."

My reply:

I was just thinking that. We need a plexiglass wall. Or perhaps we could build one out of orange peels?
And for the love of god, the snuffling! Gag. What disgusting noises humans can produce.

To which she said:

"Omg right??? BLOW. YOUR. NOSE."

(Trust me, this one was bad. Perhaps it's a cultural thing? This person was ... really enthusiastic, anyway.)

She went on to say:

"I’m going to have to put headphones on. I think it is in my top 3 office pet peeves."

So of course I had to ask what the other two were. She said, "Nail clipping, and loudly talking in another language."

I can't decide what my top three would be, personally. I mean, there are plenty of things that annoy me (including, when I have a headache, why keyboards and [some] mice are So Stinking Loud), but top three? Hard to narrow it down. What about you?

*****
Today was my aunt's birthday, my father's sister; she died more than ten years ago, which seems so long ago now. Today is also a bad day for at least two people close to me, one an anniversary and one with current troubles. I wish I could do more for them. Why does life have to be so hard?

*****
Happier thoughts: I leave for Florida two weeks from Friday, so I'm into the pre-trip preparation period where I assess what I want/need to get done before I go, and plan when to do it. The packing list is made but will be continually tweaked up to Packing Day. I have knitting prep to do and clothing decisions to make.

And yes, I do enjoy all this. Imagining the trip, and how to be best prepared for it, extends my enjoyment of the trip itself. I wouldn't enjoy a last-minute trip half as much. (Would you?) I have time this weekend, and then the following weekend I have, not Saturday (road trip! Webs tent sale! Whee!), but Sunday to Get Things Done (super-important things like painting my toenails, key when heading into flip-flop weather). Other than that, it's evenings, so I need to plan (for instance, either I decide what clothes I want to bring, and thus not wear them just before I go, or I have to do laundry at the last minute). Must plan! And anticipate! And pre-enjoy my trip! I know just how excited I'm going to be on the plane, so thinking of it makes me happy. Four whole days! Two half days! An afternoon of overlap with my brother, who is visiting before I am! Ahhhh....

Well, I Did It

Yeah. The Neti pot. Is that supposed to be capitalized? I don't even know, and frankly I don't feel like googling. Leave it.

So. I bought one at Whole Foods tonight. It's a pretty blue ceramic one, because it should at least be attractive, right? And I boiled some water when I got home, since I read that you can either use bottled/distilled water, or you should boil tap water and let it cool, and the latter seems cheaper and easier to me. I went about my evening, and a little while ago I went ahead and did it.

And yes, it's gross. If you don't think so, that's a valid opinion, but so is mine. Yuck. I hope at least it will help. It seems to me that I sound a little less like a 75-year-old pack-a-day smoker than I did before, so that's good. I also feel a little light-headed, but that may be a coincidence. It's a small sample size to be basing assumptions on; we're firmly in "remains to be seen" territory here.

Meanwhile, for the second evening running, Carlos has a heavy fit of the Random Meows, and I just turned to him and said, "If you don't stop I am going to kill you." He looked tremendously unimpressed, so I admitted, "All right, I'm not. But you're pissing me off, so stop it." He continued to look unimpressed, but at least it bought me a few seconds of silence.

Now, I need to get on the damn bike, a habit I have really struggled to make regular in the last two months. I was doing well for a while there, and then it all went to hell. Would you ask me about it periodically? Just say, "Hey, ccr, did you ride the bike last night?" Maybe accountability would help.

Little Mysteries

• How someone who didn't go out for two days got five itchy bug bites on her arm. Seriously, what got in here?
• How the Bruins played so well in game 1, so badly in game 2, and are playing so well again in game 3 so far. How do they do this?
• What in the world the computer can be doing, while I sit thinking about what to type next. I am doing nothing, it should be doing nothing, yet it makes the working-working-working noise until I want to scream.
• How going to stitch and bitch tonight, and having normal conversation, aggravated my allergy-ridden throat to the point where I can barely talk now, let alone scream.
• How being barely able to talk somehow impedes my ability to do anything, like feed the cats, which should not have anything to do with speaking but somehow does.
• How frustrating it is not to be able to yell at the cat with the random meows. (Sadly, I tried anyway. Cough cough. Not my proudest moment.)
• How the allergies may have reached the tipping point, of bring more disgusting than the idea of a neti pot is to me. Which is pretty darn disgusting. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Weekend? What Weekend? she said, pathetically

So much for the restful and relaxing, accomplishing and rejuvenating break between one week and another. Migraines are a great life lesson in how little control we actually have. You can schedule a dentist appointment, and have a long list of things to do before and after, so that you'll be free to watch the Bruins game at night, and instead be unable to do any of it. Pain trumps plans. I did turn the Bruins game on last night, at least, but I wasn't able to focus on it that well. Of course, the Bruins didn't seem to focus either, so we were matched. Apparently, "one game" was the answer to the post-game-one question, "How long can they keep this up?" Because we wouldn't want even one thing to go well for me on Saturday, apparently. (Other than petting the kitty, that is. And a few rows of knitting, between waves. Those were good.)

Anyway. It sucks. Today is not as fully hideous as yesterday, and with many rest periods I have been able to get a couple of things done (pay the bills, make tuna salad, wash the dishes). The laundry, however, will be waiting, and fortunately we aren't quite out of cat food yet, because leaving the house isn't on, either.

With Allergy Hell Week and the hormones of my period coinciding, the headache is not entirely surprising. Still. I think brownies are called for. That might distract me. Or at least make part of me happy, while the rest is so very not.

Oh. Hi.

It's Friday night. Aaaahhhhh.

It's also Allergy Hell Week. Aaaaacccckkkk.

So. Here. Have this.

At least it's a good earworm!

Of Weather, Hockey, Non-Hockey

The weather today has been bipolar, I think is the best way to describe it. I ate lunch outside, and it was glorious (at least, the weather was; there was a woman near me talking on her phone in a mix of French and English, and my brain would not stop trying to hear what she was saying, even though I didn't care. Isn't the brain funny that way?). Sunny, warm--around 70--just overall lovely. I was very happy, and sad to have to go back inside.

As the afternoon went on, it became overcast, and when I left work, it had dropped at least ten degrees. It kept dropping as I drove home, to about 50 now, and it started to drizzle. So disappointing! Wasting the lovely weather when I'm inside ... not nice, mother nature.

Of course, making this time of year beautiful and deadly shows you the sort of person she is. My allergies weren't quite as bad today as yesterday, unless it was that having cramps as well distracted me, but my throat is all clogged and I had to keep sucking on cough drops and lifesavers and anything I could find all day, to not be That Person Who Makes Annoying Noises in the Office All Day. Tiresome, to say the least. I think tonight calls for some peaceful knitting. At home I can "ahem, AHEM!" as much as I need to. A few things before I go, though.

First, the Bruins. Game One was last night, and wow, what a game! Where has that Bruins team been hiding? I missed them; that was fun to watch! They went down early on a power-play goal by Toronto, but after that it was all Bruins, and very entertaining. The final score was 4-1, and it should have been 5-1 but for a goal disallowed (by my boy)(that intent-to-blow thing is bullshit). Can't wait to see what happens next time, which is Saturday night.

In other hockey stuff, if you are at all a hockey fan (and not just currently, but if you've ever been one), you really must see this excellent playoff montage of past and present, put together by the CBC/Hockey Night in Canada. They know their stuff up there, eh?

Man, I could watch that over and over. If it whets your appetite, do what I did and go watch some of the good NHL commercials of past years (so far, this year's aren't doing much for me); don't miss Cup Raise and No Words, which are my two favorites.

The non-hockey thing is an article in the New York Times that my mother sent me a link to, that my brother had sent to her, and that she had found interesting. It's about shopping habits, and it was in fact quite interesting, but the part that I found most interesting is more about habits, not about shopping. Specifically, it's about exercise, which as you know I've been trying to make a regular habit of mine for some months now.

"Luckily, simply understanding how habits work makes them easier to control. Take, for instance, a series of studies conducted a few years ago at Columbia University and the University of Alberta. Researchers wanted to understand how exercise habits emerge. In one project, 256 members of a health-insurance plan were invited to classes stressing the importance of exercise. Half the participants received an extra lesson on the theories of habit formation (the structure of the habit loop) and were asked to identify cues and rewards that might help them develop exercise routines.

The results were dramatic. Over the next four months, those participants who deliberately identified cues and rewards spent twice as much time exercising as their peers. Other studies have yielded similar results. According to another recent paper, if you want to start running in the morning, it’s essential that you choose a simple cue (like always putting on your sneakers before breakfast or leaving your running clothes next to your bed) and a clear reward (like a midday treat or even the sense of accomplishment that comes from ritually recording your miles in a log book). After a while, your brain will start anticipating that reward — craving the treat or the feeling of accomplishment — and there will be a measurable neurological impulse to lace up your jogging shoes each morning."

This is what I did by setting up my "bike knitting", the sock I only knit on the bike. It's right there, where I can see it, and I want to finish it. I want the sock, and the way to get it is to ride the bike. It's slow, but it's working. Interesting, eh? I thought so! Do you have any examples of your own? Exercise or otherwise.

The Muzzy-Headed Post

As I mentioned yesterday, my allergies have hit me like a ton of bricks this week. Monday was the first day that I had noticeable pollen on the car, enough that a dry-sweep with the wipers had a visible effect. It didn't surprise me: for at least a week before, I'd been feeling allergy eyes. It's a distinct feeling, not exactly tired, not exactly itchy, but somewhere between. I frequently want to squinch them shut and rub my knuckles in them, which probably isn't a good idea any time, but is particularly bad when driving. Ah, spring. Love/hate.

I think what's making it worse is that, after a couple of weeks of everything looking like it was about to bloom, but not much happening because it wasn't warm enough, it finally got milder, and everything went crazy all at once. It's like it went:
bud ... bud ... bud ... holding ... holding ... BOOM! Blooms everywhere!

My only hope is that, because it's so bad, the worst will be over quickly. Because I need hope. I felt like shit today. I had to take sinus/cold meds this morning! Well, had to--or go back to bed, but that didn't seem like the best option. At the chiropractor tonight, I bought a bottle of Aller-Ease, which may be nothing helpful but at least it makes me feel like I'm doing something. Considering that my period also started today, I need hope.

Or candy. I learned something dangerous last week: Jelly Belly sells not only its regular, lovely jelly beans, but also the ones that come out funny shapes. They call them Belly Flops, and they're cheaper than the regular ones. I may have bought a bag. It may have arrived today. I am admitting nothing. Except that "A man has to do something to keep warm!" (Name that movie.)

Now, I have a Bruins game to get through. Be good to yourselves, people. We're all fighting some fight or other. Always remember not to compare your insides to anyone else's outsides.

Bruins On-the-Glass Report (Quick, before the playoffs start)

The playoffs actually start tonight for some teams, but the Bruins have until tomorrow night, so technically I'm getting this in under the wire. My allergies are hitting me hard, so please forgive any incoherence. This will be a picture-driven post.

Starting with our parking lot at the T stop.

For non-locals, 617 is Boston's area code. Good omen, right?

The trip into town was uneventful, but we arrived at the Garden amid a sea of green. The Celtics matinee had gone into overtime, and was just letting out. Who knew there were so many Celtics fans around? I don't know anyone who professes love of basketball, but clearly there are thousands of them. We found a place to stand and watch the majority flow past before trying to make our way inside. The Pro Shop was so crowded that we didn't stay long, but we did see a few things of interest.

Like ... Goldfinger!

I saw the Celtics one first, and it looks like you're channeling the Jolly Green Giant (which, if that's your thing, I'm not judging). But this? Really?

Of course, there was also the snuggie-knock-off:

It's a blanket with sleeves! Because of course it is.

Somehow we were able to restrain ourselves, and left without buying. There was a bit of a wait before they opened the doors, which was hard the more excited I got. I mean, they opened the sliding-glass panels, turned on the escalators ... and then it was half an hour before they let us go up. Honestly, don't tease!

A guy near us had the right sneakers for the occasion:

Practically everyone had Bruins-wear on, of course. It was a friendly feeling.

Watched over by Milan Lucic on the nearest pillar.

Finally, finally they let us in. Got a program, and they also were handing out free gifts, to the first so many people, I guess, since on the way home some people were asking others what was in the box. And what was in the box?

A helmet-shaped bank, which considering that the Garden is officially the TD Garden, after TD Bank, makes sense.

 Cute, right?

Once we were in, my friend went to use the ladies room, and thus had the possibly unique experience of being the only person in an arena ladies room, while I stopped to get a pretzel and Coke. The woman who rang me up had the same name as mine! That's not a usual experience, either.

Fortified, we made our way to the area of the rink nearest our seats. The nice man told us to go straight ahead, all the way down to the glass, and as my friend said, I could get used to hearing that!

I mentioned that the basketball game went into OT. Pity the poor bull gang, having to make the parquet-to-ice switch-over so quickly. (The process looks like this, if you're curious.) We got to our seats to find that the process was almost complete ... almost.

Across the ice, preparations were made for the teams to come out for warm-ups. You know, a security guard here, a puck pyramid there.

And here they ... wait.

"Congratulations, you're a famous NHL player, making a ton of money to play the game you love, and about to take the ice to the cheers of thousands. Now wait for the Zamboni."

How much fun do you think the Zamboni driver had with that?

Chara talks to Naoko from NESN.

I didn't notice yesterday but they're in the background of the Alfredsson-headband photo, too.

Now, can anyone tell me what this costume is meant to be?

It isn't hockey-related, I'm sure of that. Some sort of cartoon?

Fun fact: A few seconds after I took this photo, one of the Ottawa players banged his stick on the glass right by the kid. I'm sure it was a coincidence, right?

Before the game, they gave out some awards, and my boy Patrice won two of them. Ahhh, respect for a great player, makes me so happy.

More photos:
Adam McQuaid without a mullet:

Marchand mouthing off to the Senators bench:

Chara, being so tall he needs to toe-in to stay balanced:

Lucic fights, across the ice, my focus not so good--my camera's focus, I mean:

Marchand being escorted away from trouble:

Between periods, we got to see kids playing!

Tuukka:

Chara is not actually two feet taller than the referee, aka, perspective is funny:

Though he does have to bend over to talk to Peverley

Loooooch:

Bergeron, working so quickly that he is rarely in focus:

Chara and Seidenberg, synchronized skating NHL-style:

Seids lined up right by us for many faceoffs. These were particularly good seats if your favorite player happened to play defense. (Bergeron's a forward. Distance is my excuse for poor focus!)

And I hope that I will still be going to games at 101:

Here, Marchy looks like he's mouthing off (again), but instead it's that perspective thing (again):

The Senator was skating by, not at him.

Finally, two puzzlers. Sign in the stands:

35 lbs. and the Bruins logo? Anyone?

And, bad photo, but these pants? Really?

Not the white-tights legs, though those are ... also interesting, but the black and gold plaid? Really?