A Little Grinching, A Little Gladness

You know what's annoying? When you do things right and it still doesn't work. And yes, I do have an example! Two, in fact.

One is just the stupid Globe delivery thing. After I changed my service, they correctly stopped delivering the weekday papers last week, but they have now delivered all five days this week. I called on Tuesday, and they assured me they would contact the local delivery people and stop it, but no, every single day. Who wants to bet it will come again on Monday? Or alternately, NOT come tomorrow or Sunday?

The other is related to the stupid health insurance, and isn't even the biggest snafu related to our new-in-April coverage. I need to get blood tested, and had a heads-up from a coworker that our insurance does not cover it everywhere, it has to be one of their chosen labs. So, OK, from the website, I found (not easily, the website sucks) a lab that would do it--after sorting through prenatal testing labs and drug testing labs and sleep labs, a filter would be nice, guys--and I called them yesterday to confirm that they really do do this kind of testing. The woman told me yes, and even went off to confirm that someone would be there to do it at 8 this morning--it's a fasting test, so I am not mucking about, I'm not good at fasting. I get cranky, and head-achy, in short order. First thing in the morning it is; I'll be there when the doors open.

So, this morning I didn't have my usual coffee, didn't take my vitamins, didn't drink the extra bit of smoothie when I made it, didn't even lick the peanut butter off the knife when I was making a sandwich for lunch. I packed it all in the car and went up there (the lab isn't far from work, which is why I chose that one). I arrived shortly before 8, and sat in the lobby knitting for a few minutes. At 8, the lights came on inside and a woman unlocked the door and came out, and I greeted her and asked if they were opening up? And she said hesitantly that yes, but was I there for a blood test? (I guess they don't get a lot of walk-in traffic...?) Because there wasn't anyone there yet who could draw blood. Should be within the hour, though!

Well, even if I didn't have to get to work, I'm not starving for another hour, especially based on a maybe. We discussed it, and she allowed as how Monday through Thursday were better than Friday, and they actually open at 7, if the door's locked just call and they'll let me in. Un-huh. Excellent. So basically nothing I was told on the phone is right.

I mean, she was nice, and apologetic and all, and it's not like it's her fault, really, but asking me to deal with that kind of irritation on an empty stomach is pushing it, frankly. I'll try again next week, and what I think I'll do is call them at 7 and make sure someone is going to be there before I go through all that again. Because the location is convenient, and going to a lab that the insurance pays for is important, but honestly, people, if you mess with my food intake, it won't be pretty.

In happier news, the Bruins announced today that they signed Bergeron to a contract extension, so that he can in fact retire as a Bruin (not now! maybe in nine years). Whew! I feel kind of like this about it:

I love this guy, and it would have killed some part of the Bruins fan in me if he ever got traded. Which is not technically impossible now, but it's really really unlikely, and that makes me a happy Bruins fan.

Speaking of hockey, I don't know if you're aware of the whole Sharknado thing, but I absolutely loved this Twitter exchange related to it, as seen on Puck Daddy:

Oh, snap!

Now, I haven't ridden the bike yet this evening--yet, yet--but I will. I've been doing laundry (third load in the dryer) and cooking an actual dinner, which means I have some actual dishes to take care of. Then I will bike. Ask me tomorrow!

Yup, I Biked!

I don't complain about the weather as much in summer as I do in winter (do I?); I take after my mother, who was asked after moving to Florida, "Doesn't it get hot there?" and replied simply, "Yes." I like the warmth, and want to spend time outside in the sun while it's there. (Not that I don't love air conditioning, I do, but I love to need it, too.) This is a roundabout way of saying that I was hoping to eat my lunch outside today; I need some basking, and we've had way too much of the cloudy, rainy weather lately (sometimes 75 degrees, sometimes 95, but Not Enough Sun anyway). I checked the weather forecast this morning before work and it said that although there would be afternoon showers, there was a 0% chance before 1 PM.

So naturally, when I got out of a meeting at 10:30, it was raining.

And no, it wasn't raining at 1. Or 2. Or 3. Or since.

I'm just saying.

Anyway, many thanks to those who asked me about biking! I did bike a few minutes after I wrote last night; not a lot, but more than the "none" that I felt like doing. Baby steps. And since I was motivated by the questions (keep asking, do!), I waited to blog until after I biked tonight. Another ten minutes, I'm all sweaty (ugh), and the heel flap is close to being done. Baby steps indeed, but enough of them and eventually you get somewhere.

Incidentally, I don't know why, as a knitter, I'm not more comfortable with that idea, why it's such a fight. The whole concept of knitting is that it's tiny movements that only together create something. Why does that seem so different to me?

So I knit on the purse sock in the meeting this morning, I knit on the bike, and now I think I'll go off and knit for a few minutes before bed. Thank heavens it's almost the weekend!

*****
Conversation with Carlos:
Meow.
You have food, bud. I just looked.
Meow.
You do. You have food.
Meow.
It may not be the new exciting food that you want [ed note: all of an hour old], but it is food, and it's all you get right now.

...? Does ... not ... compute ...

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...)