Talk of Other Things

I'm so tired of being a grown-up. The paper Globe was delivered again this morning, my new health insurance continues to be difficult to deal with in myriad ways requiring phone call after phone call, someone I like at work is leaving at the end of the week ... it's just tiresome.

So let's talk about something else. Like hockey! The Bruins development camp started today; I'm looking forward to going to Wilmington this weekend and watching the future Bruins. Also today, the Bruins announced they'd signed Tuukka Rask to a nice long contract, so I don't have to worry about him, or the team's goaltending, for a while (it's an 8-year contract, so I figure that gives me at least a few worry-free years). If they would just extend Bergernon's contract, I could really relax.

Let me add this great quote from Jack Edwards, in a recent live chat:

I would love to see the league make in-conference games far more common [than] out-of-conference games, as familiarity breeds contempt and contempt in hockey is a beautiful thing.

Ah, Jack, October will be here before we know it. (It will, too; how scary is that?)

*****
Random question, but is anyone familiar with a restaurant chain called Seasons 52? They're new to me, but it does sound interesting. Anyone? Bueller?

*****
Would you do me a favor, and help me get back on the bike? Ask me about it, encourage me? I got waaaaaay out of the habit, and am trying to get back in; after all, one and a half socks aren't doing me any good, I know, but I am not in the groove lately.

I'm just a little farther than this. Help me get to the end!

There are plenty of pictures that I haven't been blogging lately, what with one thing and another. Like this guy calming putting up a traffic light.

Who would have guessed that Lestat drove a Ford Fiesta? Not me!

When I see something strung between two trees, my automatic first thought is hammock, but that's not what this is. What is it?

I may have to drive by again and get a better look.

I made a few more catnip mice for a friend of my mother's, since she paid my knitting the ultimate compliment of appreciating it (apparently mine is the only toy the cat will play with by herself. How about that?).

It's a cute little pattern, and a quick knit.

Someone, however, was not impressed.

Do you see how I am ignoring you?

Do you? I want that!

Apparently his lordship's catnip is not good enough, once he could smell this.

Super duper extra strength!

I don't understand ... how can you resist me? The cute face, the post-dental-work sneer...

Three Reasons to Keep it Brief Tonight

1. Carlos needs me.
2. The kitchen needs cleaning up.
3. I started a new book, and want to keep reading.

So, just a brief tale.

Last Monday was the first day when I didn't get the Globe delivered, having switched to e-reading the Globe during the week, and when I left for work that day I found myself looking around, sure that he would have brought one anyway. But no; all week, no paper, I read it on the iPad and was very happy with the new situation.

Yesterday, Monday, there was a paper newspaper outside the door. Hmmm. I don't suppose my new neighbor coincidentally signed up for delivery just now? No. When there was one again this morning, I called them to be sure they weren't charging me for this error. The man assured me that no, the account showed the change, they would contact the local delivery people, and thanks for letting them know.

We'll see what happens next. Any bets? For that matter, any bets on what I'll end up doing when the computer is turned off: door number one, two, or three?

Improvement is Good

I do feel so cheated when I lose so much of a weekend to a headache. This morning I felt, not 100%, but better, enough to go to work (cautiously)*, and I am honestly pleased that the pain is mostly gone. But still, why couldn't it have been gone Sunday morning, instead of Monday? I lost Saturday night and all of Sunday, including dinner plans with friends, to this blight. As I said to a friend on the topic, "Life with migraines--every plan has an asterisk after it."
*And the day went all right, though I would have liked to leave an hour early. You know you're ready to go when you don't find it funny that the writer used "butter" where he meant "buffer".

In looking back over the past few months, though, I am encouraged to see that I have had fewer headaches, and far fewer of the worst ones. Of the last six weeks, three have been completely headache-free, which is not something I could say since, well, last summer. Seriously. Maybe it's the chiropractor and maybe it isn't, but I'll keep going just the same.

I joke about being sensitive, say that "I'm a delicate flower," but honestly there are times when I feel that I'm much too sensitive to things like ambient noise. I shouldn't be ready to scream at work* because someone is printing (apparently) War and Peace on a printer that goes "ah-whoomp" with every page, while at the same time someone is washing dishes in the sink that doesn't have a real drain, so for every set amount of water, the pump goes "grrrrrrrrrrnnnkk".
*And this wasn't even today, it was last week, with no headache.

And yet. Deep breaths.

It didn't help that at various periods on the same day, someone's car alarm kept going off. BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! Is there anything more well-meaning and useless than a car alarm? No one ever hears one and thinks, "That car is being stolen, I must do something!" The things may work passively as a deterrent, guiding a would-be-thief to an un-alarmed car, but otherwise all they do is cause grinding of teeth. Agree? Disagree?

All right, if you made it this far, here's an excellent picture from the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee. Enjoy!

HEADACHE

Hurts
Endlessly
And
Damn
And
Curses
Hurts
Ee-ow.

Hockey-heavy

First of all, here's video of the part of the Pops concert that I mentioned yesterday, of Officer Dick Donohue conducting I'm Shipping Up to Boston (and here's the original version, if you're curious).

If you're not from around here, I suppose you might not know the Dropkick Murphys; I know of them because not only are they a Boston band, they're seriously big Bruins fans, so their music is often heard at the Garden (I don't even know how big they are outside MA). It was a nicely Boston moment last night, anyway. Which segues nicely into what's on my mind tonight, which is hockey and more hockey.

I know, it's the off-season, you'd think there wouldn't be much to talk about, hockey-wise. But such a crazy off-season this is being, you know? As I said on Facebook, half as long and twice as crazy as usual. Let me count the ways.

• Eleven days ago the playoffs ended.
• Nine days ago the team cleaned out their lockers for the summer (and for some, longer than that, since the team told a few players they would not be signed to new contracts, including Ference and Jagr), and Bergeron got out of the hospital.
• Six days ago, Nathan Horton announced that he did not plan to re-sign with the Bruins, but would test free agency instead. This after the Bruins said signing him was a priority second only to Tuukka! Well, really.
• Five days ago was the draft. No big Bruins news there, but rumblings from Chiarelli about Seguin needing to grow up, which sounded like the writing was on the wall.
• Yesterday, the Bruins announced they'd sent Seguin, Peverley, and a minor-leaguer to Dallas for Loui Eriksson and three prospects. Well! I have mixed feelings. I think it's one of those trades that only time will tell who got the better deal. Hopefully Eriksson will fit into the Bruins' system better, anyway.
• Today at noon, free agent hunting officially began, and I need to give that more than one bullet. 
• As expected, the early news was Boston-light and Boston-negative: they lost Ference (well, since they'd said they wouldn't re-sign him, "lost" is probably the wrong word) to Edmonton. He'd been a Bruin for a long time, and was sorry to be let go, but he's from Edmonton originally, and was he happy to sign there? This is what he sent out after it was announced:

I think he's happy. Good for him; he's always come across as a super-nice guy, and I just hope the Bruins don't miss him too much.

• Next, Horton to Columbus. Seven years and $37 million, wow! Particularly for a guy with his injury history, who's off for shoulder surgery now and hopes to be playing again by December...
• Back-up goalie Anton Khudobin signed elsewhere. Bruins sign goalie Chad Johnson. Neither deal stunningly exciting.
• Then nothing much positive and Boston-related, just didn't-get-him stories (Alfredsson, Michael Ryder), until in the twist of the night, Iginla is now a Bruin. For real, this time! They say. (Back at the trade deadline, the Bruins announced that they had traded for him, and the next morning it turned out he went to Pittsburgh instead. Oops!) Now that could be a big deal! And should be the last, I expect, since they're running out of cap space.

Am I forgetting anything? Seriously nuts, and it's still going on; unlike the draft, free agency has no structure and follows no clock. So far Jagr hasn't signed anywhere, Boston or otherwise (the Bruins told him they wouldn't re-sign him, but that was before Horton's little bombshell, so who knows). Tim Thomas has come out of his bunker in Colorado and said through his agent that he wants to play, but so far no one is biting. The big names may be gone, but there are still players in the wind.

As far as I'm concerned, I want the Bruins to get Tuukka signed already, because he's crucial. Once that's done, it would make me very happy if they would sign Bergeron to an extension: he's a free agent next summer, but tie him up now and make him a Bruin-for-life, please!

Keep calm and keep Bergeron!

(By the way, this isn't the end of the hockey in summer, either: next Wednesday the Bruins' development camp starts.)

Happy 4th!

It's been a pleasant lazy day here, ending with me on the couch, typing with one hand because someone furry is draped over the other arm, purring. I've been watching the Pops concert and the fireworks on TV, and while I'm sorry for the rest of the country that they can't see them (the network switched to New York's show this year), it's been a nice local show for us.

I'm not big on any of the guest artists they had, but that's okay, I got to get all sniffly when they had Dick Donohue, an officer who was shot and almost died during the capture of the Marathon bomber, out on crutches to conduct the Pops as they played the Dropkick Murphys' I'm Shipping Up to Boston, which was just so Boston, words cannot express. I'll have to put up video of that. Meanwhile, going to watch the end of the show and get to bed--at a decent hour, for which I thank the local coverage. Not going until 11 tonight, hooray!

Happy 4th of July!

A Quiet Night

Carlos and I are having a quiet night. Well, I'm quiet; he's actually purring pretty loudly. 

Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course; quite the opposite.

A Little Pondering, Then Zen

Blogger's giving me HTML grief this week*, so perhaps it should be them. Of course, who can I reach at Blogger? No one. And my hands aren't really up to punching anyway. But I shall send a vigorous metaphorical punch their way.
*Oh really? "Required field must not be left blank"? Which field is that? All I did was insert a picture. There are no fields. Get it together, Blogger.

Anyway. It's kind of time for bed over here. A week after the season ended, I'm still feeling slightly aimless and oddly tired in the evenings. As for the picture, given our upcoming Thursday holiday, today is really more Thursday than Tuesday, so that's good. Work a day, enjoy a day off, work a day, get two more days off ... as long as the head cooperates, that's a darned good schedule.

And now, here is your moment of Zen.

Of Newspapers and Books (Dominoes)

So, 2013 is half over! Does that freak out anyone other than me? I find it very weird. I don't know if any Canadians* read this, but if you are, Happy Canada Day to you.
*You don't know how hard it is for a hockey fan not to type Canadiens, which is how the Montreal team spells their name...

To celebrate (not really), I entered a new era of technology today, specific to the newspaper and the iPad. It's over a month since I first tried reading the ePaper version of the Globe on the iPad, and decided that I liked the experience well enough to switch to that on weekdays. On Saturday, I finally got around to calling the Globe and telling them this (since apparently they can't, or won't, read my mind). To my surprise, the woman said that I don't have to pay for the weekday ePaper, I get it anyway along with the subscription to the "paper" newspaper on the weekend. Can this be right? I guess we'll see. All I know now is, it was a relief to sit down this morning and read the paper when I was ready to, instead of watching and waiting and trying to tell if the usually late and often badly aimed paper had arrived outside. Further updates if and when things go wrong (health insurance billing woes, anyone?), but for now the main thing is, a change for the good!

Now, I'm better today than yesterday, but my head and stomach are not behaving perfectly yet. So let me call it a night, but I'll leave you with this: wonderful book dominoes!

Isn't that great? It must have been So Much Work, but so worth it! My favorite thing is that the first book is Before the Fall (though I also love where the path spells out READ, and the parts where the books go in a rainbow of colors); what's yours?

An Old What at the Airport?

I have a bit of a headache today, which is always unfortunate. The day isn't a total loss, though; the laundry is done and (almost all) put away, I've been watching the NHL draft (no big Bruins news there, so far anyway), and the cat has been thoroughly cuddled. It could be worse.

However, prolific content, or indeed coherence, may be a reach. How about some pictures?

Before I start, though, by the way, did you see yesterday's post, What is this Plant? Do you have any idea?

OK, photo time! In the airport in Florida, there's a great old car. I know, in an airport you'd think it would be a plane, but it's a car. And by old, I mean 1908.

It's gorgeous.

Check out the details!

Honk if you love old cars.

What is this Plant?

A friend was wondering what this plant was, that is growing by her back door, and I told her I'd ask you guys, since you're wicked smart (to use a very Boston phrase)(to be truly Bostonian, it would have to be pronounced smaht, of course).

Ahem. Out of the parentheses. Do you know what it is?

There are similar ones growing on the other side of the fence:

And it has these little flowery bits growing out the top.

Anyone know?

More later, or, you know, tomorrow, or sometime. Just wanted to put this out there while I thought of it.

Brrr, Inside and Out

We had some temperature fluctuations in the office this week, as well as outside, where it was 95 Monday, 70 today, welcome to New England.

Monday was fine inside; I was even wearing a skirt and not cold. I went outside at lunchtime and happily basked in the I-love-it heat. Tuesday was also hot out, but not as good in: I again had a skirt on, and my legs were rather cold. Wednesday, since it wasn't as hot out, maybe 80, I wore my more usual trousers, and thank heavens I did because it was super-cold inside. Then because of that, someone tried pushing the thermostat up, which turned on the heat and sent out a lingering, burned-plastic odor that had us all coughing. With the thermostat pushed back down, that finally dispersed, but it was never not cold.

Warned by all this, I not only wore trousers today, and brought a sweater to wear over my shirt, but I brought in a fleece jacket as well, and it's a good thing I did because I needed it: it was freezing and blowing cold air on my head all day. It is unfortunate that my desk is under the blowers; it's an odd feeling to be so layered up, including fingerless gloves, and see someone else in short sleeves. I mean, people are different, but still, that seems excessive.

On top of that today, we had lunch brought in to the office in honor of someone who's moving to the NY office, and while I hate to complain about a free lunch*, personally, I did not find half a sandwich (without even potato chips, incidentally) and a small piece of cake to be all that filling. I went back to my desk feeling both hungry and cold. Excellent. Coupled with the rain this afternoon, and the maybe-it-hit-70-degrees temps, it was just generally That Kind of Day.
*Clearly, I don't hate it enough to not complain, though.

At least it's Thursday night, which means tomorrow is Friday. I have movie plans with friends after work, and no other plans for the weekend. I should get the car inspected, do laundry, that kind of excitement. Which is fine by me.

Do you have plans this weekend, or no? How do you feel about it?

What do you mean...?

It's only Wednesday?

Really?

As expected, my mood today is not as bad as yesterday. But am I tired, whoa, I tell you. I went to bed early last night, and I'm going to do it again tonight, and probably tomorrow night. A good weekend's sleep and I should be in better shape by next week.

And there's a bonus day off next week: I can't believe it, but next Thursday is 4th of July already (aka Independence Day, and a national holiday, if you aren't aware). Day off! Sleep late, and feel patriotic, and day off! Woo-hoo.

There are about 20 people working in my office, and about half work from home on your average Friday. Want to make a guess how many will be there next Friday? Not many, I'm guessing. Not many.

By the way, a hockey note: Bergeron, my Bergeron? If I may be forgiven for calling a grown man I've never met this, my poor baby? Is in the hospital, where he apparently went for "observation" after the game Monday night.

With what, you ask? As the guys at the Backhand Shelf said in the podcast, a broken body. It seems that going into game 6, he had a broken rib and torn cartilage; coming out of game 6 he added a separated shoulder; and somehow after that, he has a hole in his lung.

A hole. In his lung. Holy moly.

I've never claimed to be anything like stoic, or whatever word you want to use to describe such feats, but I have to say, even I feel a little bad that I complained about my bruised elbow yesterday.

Ahem. Doesn't mean I won't continue to gripe about minor things! I mean, my arthritis is really bothering me, and my hands are so sore ... that I should probably stop typing now ... hmmm.

All right, then. Good night!

So. That Happened.

Yeah, Chicago won last night. It's over.

I don't really want to talk about it. There's nothing* anyone, no matter how well-intentioned, can say that will make me feel better today. Only time will do that. I couldn't look at that part of the newspaper this morning, and have been glancing at photos online quickly-and-away all day. I'm not ready to listen to today's Backhand Shelf podcast. I'm trying to think about the extra sleep I'll be getting, instead of the reason why.
*No, really. I'm pretty sure. I appreciate it, but no. Nothing.

To add injury to insult, I whacked my elbow on the corner of something this morning, hard enough to bruise, and my arm hurt all day. Just what I needed. It turns out that the motion of lifting a glass, in order to drink from it, is not complementary to this bruise. (Fortunately, my left arm is able to step in for this duty.) Moreover, the simple motion of swinging my arm while walking is startlingly painful, so I've been walking with my arm relatively immobile by my side, which seems like such an overreaction to a simple bruise except ow, ow, stop the ow.

Time to put in a silly movie and eat some fresh peas, I think. Give me time.

Meh

I'm probably not the only person who is sometimes in a good mood for no particular reason, and sometimes in a bad mood for no particular reason, right? Yeah. In today's case, it's probably hormones, but it doesn't help that the Bruins lost last night and Bergeron left the game injured (he's day to day with a "body injury"). I have a list of "shoulds" a mile long, none of them awful but the number of them overwhelming. I'm just ... tired. Tired of trying to be a grown-up.

Hopefully the mood won't be long-lasting, but anyway. I'm here. I'm fine. Just blue. Normally I like blue, as you know, but not this kind.

Catching up on ... well, not a lot, really, but funny shirts!

Sorry for the recent silence, which was caused by the unfortunate juxtaposition of one headache day and one day when I had plans after work. Wednesday was a bad head day, thanks to the stupid hormones (also an upset stomach and cramps, awesomeness compounded). I had to leave work early, which I particularly hate to do when it's busy, but when I got to the point of considering how much longer it would be safe for me to drive, I knew it was really time to give in.

Once home, I got in bed for a bit, rested, got up, took something for the cramps, went back to bed, and woke up half an hour later feeling ... better? It was disconcerting, but good in that I got some much-needed laundry done before the pain started creeping back in. It didn't really go away the whole evening, but between that and the scorefest that was the Bruins game (they lost 6-5 in OT), the evening passed pretty quickly. (Next game is Saturday, then Monday; the series is essentially a best-two-of-three now. Go Bruins. [Fun fact: the Bruins' last loss in regulation was on May 12th. Crazy!])

As for last night, it was a rare work night when I had plans (and a reminder why such nights are rare for me). A few months ago, someone at work suggested that it would be fun to do an office event, the JP Morgan corporate challenge, which is a 5K run in Boston in June. I don't run, naturally (like Val Kilmer in Real Genius, "Only when chased"), but I agreed to be a cheerleader. Most of the office decided to run, and we got t-shirts and everything. I guess it's team-building or morale boosting? Who knows. What basically happened is that we met at a bar in Boston before and hung out, which was fun but loud, then walked over to the Common.

With a lot of other people. Here are a few. Apparently 12 thousand signed up for the race? Though rumor has it that not all actually bother to run/walk it, which I find funny. Of course, ours was not the only group doing pre-race warm ups in a bar, either.

One of the passers-by had a bicycle, and an iguana (?) on his shoulder.

Some of the companies had really great shirts! Like this, which had a picture of Jeff Goldblum on the front.

See at the bottom, people running from a dinosaur? Love it.

Then there was this one:

"Divorce. You never forget your first time." Good one for a law firm, eh?

The start moved slowly, but eventually they were off, and it was time for the cheerleaders to wait and watch for their triumphant return. Which was quick for the first runners overall, and fairly quick for the first in our group after a lot of scanning the crowd, then repeat, repeat, and finally it took a long time for the last ones, as they were walking, not running. Once everyone had arrived, most of the group headed back to the bar, but I got claustrophobic looking in at the crowd, and since it was getting later, I bowed out and went home.

It was kind of fun, but also very overstimulating and tiring, and much too late for me to be up, plus I'm so ridiculously sensitive that the 1-2 miles of walking around left me with sore feet today. Honestly. So, you know. Good thing it's not a regular occurrence.

And now it's Friday, and guess who is between me and the keyboard, purring?

Yup, Only Tuesday, All Right

Funny, that, isn't it?

Today wasn't actually that bad, though the second day of weather that started sunny and then got cloudy and rainy and thunderstorms and such is frankly two days too many. It's "supposed" to be better the rest of the week; we'll see. Meanwhile, there's work stuff and hockey stuff to talk about.

Several times in the past, I have written about how frustrating I find it to have to dress up when the big boss is in town. Remember? Well, Monday we got this message from the local boss:

____ is in the office tomorrow - no need to dress up since he will be in a conference room all day

As I said to my nearest neighbor, "As opposed to all the other times he's been here?" That's exactly what has happened every time! Baffling. Good, but baffling.

The other good news was that I didn't have to organize the lunch today. Pizza without a side of stress, very nice. (I did get to pull out those notes I took of what we ordered last time, but otherwise it was Not My Problem.)

Last night's game was fun to watch (well, not if you're a Blackhawks fan, but you know what I mean). By the end, the Hawks had that look about them that the Penguins so often did, the look that says, "Nothing is working. Nothing. What else can we do?" The Bruins are beating them to the point that they're beating themselves. Great fun.

That said, I'll be surprised if Chicago doesn't come back strong in game four. But then, I kept expecting Pittsburgh to come back strong in the last series, and they never did. Should be interesting, anyway.

My mother and I have been talking about how announcers pronounce players' names differently, which reminded me of this video I just saw, courtesy of the CBC and their beautifully thorough hockey coverage. In it, the Bruins introduce themselves, so you can hear how *they* pronounce their names, which should answer the question once and for all (MARshond, not MarchAND); but also funny, if you listen through to the end, is seeing how it finishes, with Krejci and then Jagr. Worth a listen, I think!

They had some fun with that, eh? Also, they're from all over the world, aren't they? Lots of Canadians, sure, but the US and Russia, Sweden and Finland and Germany, Latvia and Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Whew!

Next, in order to enjoy this exchange, as detailed on the Backhand Shelf podcast today by John Noon, you need to know that the Bruins goalie, Tuukka Rask, is from Finland, and he is playing tremendously well.

Ha! Well done, gentleman. (Although, Noon? Two Us, two Ks in Tuukka. Just saying.)(I know, quibbling about spelling on Twitter...)

Now, his furry lordship has indicated, in a subtle and casual way, that he would like my attention.

You know, subtle.

His Effort Is Paying Off

As you can see, Carlos is energetically willing the Bruins to win this evening.

And so far, it's working! This is fun. (Knock wood, cross fingers, and so on...)

Denial

The weekend can not be over already. No. Can't be. Sorry. You must be mistaken.

A Sign

One sign that it's fresh pea season: I recognize the man who collects the shopping carts from the parking lot at Wilson's ... and he recognizes me.

(I seem to have made a big impression on him Wednesday night by grabbing one of the carts that someone else left and bringing it in with me. Not that I haven't done it before, but he thanked me as I passed, and then on Thursday and again tonight, when I didn't take carts because I didn't need one [being mostly there just for the peas], he still nodded and smiled at me as we passed.)

Yesterday's were not as freshly picked, but Wednesday's and tonight's were clearly same-day, and so incredibly delicious. I bought 2.6 pounds, 3.74, and 2.75--of course, those weights include the pods, but it's still a lot of delicious, plus the pods go to my friend's father for his compost pile, which makes him happy too. Winning all over! Happy weekend!

Blink. Yawn. ...What? Did you say something?

After last night's game (which became the fifth-longest in Stanley Cup Final history)(they played just short of two games together), I did some bleary thinking today, and this is what I decided.

New rule: 
For a non-elimination game on a weeknight, I stay up for no more than one overtime period.

Do you think I'll follow through? Discuss.

(For the record, I didn't stay up all the way. I took the radio to bed toward the end of the first OT, and turned it off after the second; that was 12:30 [or about three hours after I would have liked to turn the light out]. Which led to lots of weird dreams about who scored, followed by the disappointing answer this morning: not a Bruin.)

Things That Are Making Me Happy

1. Feeling better. I don't feel 100% yet, but So Much Better. That will do!

2. Stopped at Wilson Farm tonight, and guess what? It's that brief and wonderful season known as Our Own Peas! Guess what's for dinner tonight?

3. And tomorrow night!

4. A drool spot on my shirt, from hugging my very happy kitty. Such a good boy!

5. My shirt, which is a Bruins one (I wore it to work under a sweater. Stealth supporting!). 

6. Wilson's had all sorts of Bruins signage up. I'll bring my camera in tomorrow, so you can see. Some of the employees were wearing Bruins shirts, too.

7. Game One tonight! Go Bruins!

What's making you happy? Big things, little things, anything?

Yeah, I'm Still Alive. If Less Active Than Usual (which is saying something)

Obviously, being sick sucks. But somehow it's even less fun if you don't know what the cause of the sickness is. And this little bout has been all over the place. Allergies! A cold? A migraine? One from column A and two from column B?

Saturday, in addition to the congestion ramping up, I had a sore throat. I was functional, though, so there was that. I was pretty sure it was just allergies again, and thought so still on Sunday morning, when the throat was better but the congestion was still disgusting. Midday, though, I realized that I was, perplexingly, freezing cold, like shivering. I huddled into warm things, then got into the shower. It helped a little, but I was still cold, and also feeling incredibly tired, so I got in bed to warm up and rest. It took a while, but I moved out of freezing and then on into hot, like sweating and why am I so hot? I went to take my temperature more to show that there was nothing wrong, since that's usually how it goes: I feel warm, take my temperature, and it comes up the smallest possible amount of fever, like 99, or more often, 98 (I run below average, usually).

This time, though, it was almost 102. Well then! I kept looking at it like I must be mis-reading it, but no, apparently not. Validation and mystery all at once, because allergies and fever, not usually together, right? I spent the rest of the day going from bed to couch and back, not doing the laundry I had planned, but more sitting around in wonderment at how crappy I felt.

Monday was similar, though less feverish, 99 and 100 but nothing higher. (Clearly I did not go to work.) I managed to summon the energy to shower in the afternoon, and went to the chiropractor--one of the benefits to his office being not only in the same town, but less than a mile away. No energy to stop at the store after, but oh well, baby steps.

This morning I woke up around 3, and had trouble getting back to sleep. It felt more like an incipient migraine, though, head and stomach a bit upset. I had trouble getting back to sleep, but was up and down and asleep and awake for a bit before sleeping again. I got up around 6 thinking I'd be able to go to work, but just reading the paper and eating an english muffin were activities so tiring, I amended the hope to being able to go in later. I rested, ate something...and rested; took a shower...and rested. At that point, I accepted that resting and not pushing it too early was going to be the better plan, and let work know.

I did decide that I had sufficient energy to do some laundry, as long as I spent the intervals on the couch, you know, resting, for a change. In between every trip, I reclined on the couch, listening to hockey podcasts on the iPad (Backhand Shelf is still my favorite: any others you'd recommend?), and playing solitaire (it's a good sign that I was up to my regular level: after the recent food poisoning incident, when I was playing solitaire the day after, I had to dumb it down). Lots of resting, and a good amount of kitty snuggling.

So I now have clean clothing, including Bruins shirts which alone were half a load, it's the playoffs for heaven's sake. Have I mentioned that? Starting tomorrow night at 8 (ugh), it's the Chicago Blackhawks against your Boston Bruins! Or, at least, my Boston Bruins. I'll get to hear that nice anthem singer they have there, and then hopefully the Bruins continue the streak they've been riding: you know, the one where they play really well. I like that kind of game. It's my favorite.

I Thought It Was Allergies

I feel like shit today. I thought it was allergies again, but with a fever of almost 102 earlier, perhaps there is something else going on.

Anyway. Just so you know. 

Also, Bruins-Chicago starts Wednesday. 

Bleargh.

Happily, We Wait

Q. Who will the Bruins face in the next series, the last series, the Stanley Cup finals?
A. Either Chicago or LA.

Q. When will the series start?
A. Unofficially, Wednesday or Saturday*, depending on how the Western finals series goes. Chicago is up three games to one, so if they win tonight, we're off to the races. If the Kings win one, everything pushes out. Wait and see.
*Please, not Saturday. I'm going to a wedding on Saturday! Don't do that to me...

Q. Meanwhile, who goes home now to clean out their lockers?
A. The much-vaunted Penguins, the talent-heavy Penguins, the scoring-over-4-goals-a-game-in-the-playoffs (until they hit the Bruins) Penguins. To quote David Krejci:

“We don’t have the superstars on this team. We don’t have the best player in the world. But we might have the best team in the world,” said Krejci. “We play as a team.”

Wednesday Night Into Thursday Morning

(On Thursday morning, when I thought about writing this, I was going to title it, "Tonight, I Will Be In Bed by Eight". Instead, I was so tired after work that I bailed on errands, came home, and was in bed at 5, only getting up at 11, when my neighbors chatting on their steps outside my window woke me. Soon, I will go back. Whew.)

Ideally, I would get ten hours of sleep a night. I'm functional on eight, but ten is much better. (Of course, unemployment is the only time I get ten, but nevermind.)

Last night? Wednesday night became Thursday morning. Double overtime, the game finished after midnight, I got between five and six hours, and I was a total zombie today*. But a happy zombie, after the Bruins won in the second overtime. Up three games to none, woo! (It's the first time this season that the Penguins have lost three in a row. Wow.)
*And I wonder why my head hurt. Couldn't be the 87 caffeinated drinks I consumed in an effort to open my eyes all the way**, could it? No. We will blame the Penguins.
**Which made me think of Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story, when she says she doesn't know what's wrong, but her eyes don't open all the way.

The Penguins played a much better game than the first two, so the Bruins' play was correspondingly worse (chicken/egg). The Bs took some stupid penalties, were useless on their own power plays, lost more faceoffs ... but in the end, my boy Bergeron tipped in a perfectly placed Marchand pass, and boom, here we are. Happy!

Also, I LOVED the CBC intro to last night's game.

Not being in Canada, I didn't see it before last night's game, of course, but it was online today, and another stellar job. The music the guy* chose is Radiohead's Karma Police, and the lyrics are great. "This is what you get when you mess with us" over shots of Bruins overwhelming Penguins, and "I lost myself" over shots of Crosby and other Pens looking, well, lost. Perfect.
*There was an interesting story I read about him, back in the Toronto series. What a cool job!

I'm not entirely sure about the inclusion of the fisherman statue, though. Is that supposed to be iconic Boston? It's in Gloucester, and it's not like we're playing the Islanders...

By the way, Bobby Orr was on a local radio program Thursday morning, and how would you feel, as Chara, to wake up in the morning, after last night's marathon effort, to learn that Bobby Orr said you were "a much better defensive defenseman than I was"? Whoa. I know, Orr was an offensive defenseman, but still, praise from the master is praise indeed.

So, I need to go back to bed. And dream of game 4, Friday night! (And sleeping in on Saturday; I'm too old for this shit, frankly.)

Guess What? That's Right: Go Bruins!

I heard this on the radio driving home tonight.

I was struck by this line in particular:

I gotta feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night.

As you can imagine. No guarantees, no assumptions, just a feeling.

What's that you say? I could post something ... unrelated to hockey?

Um. Well. I guess. Theoretically.

Here. Have you seen the high-diving giraffes?

I think that's as far from hockey as you can get. Or as I can get, at any rate.

I Know, More Hockey, But Seriously, Folks!

Damn, can I tell you what a happy Bruins fan I am today? The Bruins dominated Pittsburgh last night, overwhelmed them, out-everythinged them, beat them 6-1 on a night when the Penguins had no excuse, zero, zip, none, for not coming out roaring on all cylinders. Instead, as Puck Daddy put it, "they were abjectly terrible in such a spectacular fashion." For a Bruins fan, it was great, start to finish.

Another key quote from Puck Daddy:

Pittsburgh's stars have yet to arrive in the Eastern Conference Final. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, James Neal and Jarome Iginla are a combined minus-19 without a single point scored through two games. Letang and Malkin were a special kind of terrible in Game 2.

Ow, damn! I am not at all a fan of Crosby, but I will freely admit that he's a great player, arguably the best in the world .. except this month, apparently. What's happened to him? I have no idea, but I hope it lasts.

Also, remember the pilot who liked my Bruins shirt last week? I wonder if this was the same guy or another one?

Joe Haggerty ‏@HackswithHaggs

Baby crying in back of Jet Blue flight packed w/Boston media. Pilot just got on intercom and asked if "Sidney Crosby was in the back crying"

What's making me even happier is all the holy-cow, where did this come from crow-eating going on around the hockey corners of the internet. I mean, this series is far from over, and I'm not going too far with it, but this dominant start for the Bruins is something that NO ONE predicted. Everything that I read before the series started called it for the Penguins. Not easily, not in a sweep, two pretty evenly matched teams, but everyone's guesses were Penguins in five games, Penguins in six, Penguins in seven. And now? Hi there. We are the Bruins. Not so fast. And today, the tide of popular opinion has started to change.

NESN's own Jack Edwards did a live chat on Boston.com today, and someone asked him, "What is the deal with the NBC crew? Could they be more depressed?" (I muted the TV in the first and turned the radio on instead, so I didn't hear this myself. I do not regret that choice. The Bruins radio crew is good.) His response:

We're sending anti-depressants. But we have cause to believe that NBC headquarters is devastated... some thought it was a water main that burst last night, but it was just a Flood of tears.

I guess some are finding it harder than others to let go of their storyline.

I always enjoy listening to the Backhand Shelf podcast, but of course today I really loved it, enough to listen to it (or parts of it, you can guess which) twice (John Noon is now calling for Bruins in five; Bourne thinks it's Boston, but hasn't decided in how many). The headline is excellent, too:

Backhand Shelf Podcast: The Penguins only need to improve their offence, defence and goaltending

So, not much, then?

I really have no idea what to expect tomorrow night. But it should be interesting!

*****
The report I have at work right now is written by a non-native English speaker, and by the end of the day, I can feel my brain cells dying. It isn't the worst I've ever seen, but it's an obvious few notches below where I'm used to seeing the writing quality. An exhausting few notches.

Of course, the late night didn't help, nor the allergies. I was hoping that the allergens would have run their course by now, or been washed completely away by rain, but no. I have to wash my car windshield in the mornings in order to see out. Don't believe me? Here it is this afternoon, with fresh pollen settling all over.

Also, I don't grab the top of my car's door frame when I get in the car, but someone does. Maybe when I got the oil changed? I guess I could lift the pollen-prints to find out.

You can kind of see how my deep blue car has a different tint these days. How about this one? I've noticed it before at work, since it's the same model as mine.

It's black, usually. And no, it doesn't actually have a yellow-green top, but I can see why you thought so. Lovely, isn't it? When does this season end? Soon?

Go Bruins!

Another reason to hate NBC's coverage of the playoffs: I blame them for these terrible 8 PM start times. What, are they trying to kill me?

I already didn't sleep well last night. It was a weird night, honestly: I was in bed by 10, but it took me what felt like forever to fall asleep (one of those nights when it was hard to switch my brain off, you know?). It seemed like a long time later that I woke up to go to the bathroom, like it should have been close to morning, but it was only 12:45. Then I went back to sleep, but I kept sleeping and waking and sleeping and waking, and when Carlos was all meowy I thought it must be almost time for the alarm to go off, but the clock said it was only 4:15! Just an odd, non-restful night. No matter what happens tonight, I can tell already that tomorrow morning is going to SUCK.

I hope it doesn't suck for hockey-fan reasons too, but I certainly don't expect the Penguins to sit back and let the Bruins roll over them. No one picked this series to finish in four, either way. Still, watching the Bruins lose (theoretically) isn't so much fun. If the Bruins don't win, I hope they at least acquit themselves well.

And off to watch the game. Cross those fingers, go Bruins!

Bruins Hockey, Other Hockey

I didn't do enough today to feel this tired, honestly! Perhaps it's because there's a storm coming in; shall we blame it on that? Yes, let's. Anyway.

Some game last night, eh? The Bruins go into Pittsburgh* and Tuukka gets his first career playoff shutout, Krejci gets two more goals, and Patrice gets into his second career fight? With Malkin?! No one expected any of that. Don't lie, you did not.
*Why do I always want to spell that without the "h" on the end? Can anyone tell me?

Now, none of you may be uber-hockey fans, let alone uber-Bruins fans, but just in case, let me share this lovely summary that someone put together (found via Stanley Cup of Chowder, thanks, guys). It's the game in 21 minutes, and the lovely part is that they married the NBC video with the Bruins radio announcers.

Almost as good as having NESN! I miss Jack and Brick so; it's great that NESN is doing pregame and postgame coverage, and I watched it all, but it simply isn't the same as them having the whole game. Stupid national coverage. Though the NBC guys were complimentary to the Bruins last night, and more so as the game went on, they have their own little tics ("...takes the shot and it wouldn't go!"), mispronounce names, and fasten onto odd points, like what they kept talking about last night, how the Bruins had "active sticks" in the defensive zone. I kind of get what they meant, and I know it's a good thing, but the tenth time they used the phrase, I started to feel like it was code for some strange activity that couldn't be talked about openly on network TV.

Hey, as long as I'm putting up a hockey video that probably no one will watch, here's another. Ten amazing goals by Pavel Datsyuk. Random!

I dare you not to be impressed by number 3. The play-by-play for that one isn't in English, but you have to agree with "Fantastica!" in any language.

The reason for the video, by the timing, is in response to a CBC reporter who recently said of Datsyuk, "not all the God-blessed talent in the world, but he is a hard worker..."

Given that I have more than once heard another player's amazing move described as being "Datsyukian," it's pretty clear that that is crap. I mean, I'm sure he does work hard, but that is some talent there, my friends. You don't break in one-on-four and score like that without it, no matter how hard you work. Period.

Anyway! The Bruins play again tomorrow night, and it should be Very Interesting. Another stupid eight o'clock start, so I know already that I'll be tired on Tuesday. It's the playoffs!

(Does it show you an ad before it? How weird, to show an ad before ... an ad.)

Hot on Saturday, Thinking Cool

I'm wearing a Bruins shirt today, of course, and I wore one to fly on my recent trip. Naturally I chose my newest shirt, the Keep Calm and Bergeron, and on my first travel day, two different people at Logan stopped me to comment on its awesomeness. On the way back, I was getting off the plane, looked up toward the cockpit to thank the pilot, and before I spoke he said, "Keep calm and Bergeron, I like it!" Yes, that was "your Boston-based flight crew," but still, pretty funny.

I'm also mainlining popsicles* today. Wow, it's hot! I have had popsicles since last summer, but I totally forgot how to eat them when it's so hot they melt before you finish. It was 90 degrees at 10 this morning**, and though I do have air conditioning (thank god), it is struggling to keep up.
*Actually, I have Hood Pop Stix in the freezer right now, and I prefer them to Popsicles brand. But it's become a generic term, in my opinion.
**According to Weather.com, at 5:30 it's 88 here, and 83 where my mother is in Florida. Given that it was 40 here last weekend, you can understand if we're all a little stunned.

I've been moving the floor fan around, and should you be in a similar position, I have some advice for you: try to keep the cat on the other side of you from the fan, unless you like having fur blow all over your sweaty skin. Why is it that Carlos feels so cuddly today? I know, he's still getting over my being away, but oh man. Today I'm grateful at least that he is a sit-next-to cat, not a true lap cat. I'm hot enough! Good thing he's so cute (and sweet).

After getting through the mammogram this morning (ugh, but not awful), I had to go to the bank to get quarters for laundry. The branch that's open weekends is in the grocery store (I originally got an account with this particular bank for this very reason), so I picked up a few things while I was there. You know, grapes, cucumbers, crackers, and, well, a few frozen things. Not peas, either, but yummy hot-weather frozen treats. Mmm.

Speaking of peas! After work yesterday, I went around the mall looking for a dress to wear to a friend's upcoming wedding (and struck out, then ordered one online last night, we'll see how it does, stay tuned), I started for home and thought about stopping at Wilson's on the way. I almost didn't go, when it occurred to me that we're getting close to pea season. It's too early for them to have their own, but maybe from New Jersey ...?

Yes! Guess what I had for dinner? So, so good. I can't decide when I'm going back. If not before, I can go after work Tuesday, since my haircut isn't until 5:30. Time to go short again! I went slightly longer over the winter, feeling in need of a change, and it's been fun to have it be a bit different, but it flunked the Florida test and is flunking the heat now. I keep pushing it off the back of my neck, and I want it gone. Short, please!

Now, I said I'd have more Florida photos, so today, let's take a little boat tour, shall we?

Flower first! You know how I am. Doesn't this look fake?

 And how about the pods hanging off this tree: don't they look rather like green beans?

Mangroves are pretty cool.

There's an area for recovering birds, and though the camera chose to focus on the screening, you can see the cormorants with wings out. I love me some cormorants.

And pelicans!

 Do you mind? I'm bathing here. Could I have some privacy? Honestly! People!

 All right, boat tour! This is the size boat. The others are all named after fish, but that one (named by the donor) is after a bird ... that eats fish. Hmmm.

They're electric boats, by the way. Charge it!

From here, you can't tell where we're going to go, can you?

 But it opens up. A little.

 The mangroves "walk" out into the water.

Pretty neat. And I don't know what this one was, but he needs a haircut, too, doesn't he?

This concludes our tour for today. I hope you enjoyed it. I need to go get ready: the pre-game starts at 7, and I want to be all ready to sit on the couch for the evening, and not get up for anything but cheering (well, and bathroom breaks on the commercials, but you know what I mean). Go Bruins!