A Time For Everything

 

Do you remember me committing to a "no spending challenge"?

I think I did... >>> researches such post <<< ...and yes I did so in late January. To recap, no buying more tea or lip balm before I'm out or almost out. And no books unless I have a gift card. No other purchases unless necessary.

I've adhered to the rules pretty well, and I've limited any impulse buys to the bare minimum. I've bought maybe two books without a gift card when I couldn't find them via the online library systems either. But they were important enough for this journey I'm on. They weren't fiction.

Fiction books only get bought with the gift cards. Luckily, my two fave authors can only write so fast so it works out. :0)

And while I'm still sticking to that "no" mindset, I've added a new challenge to my life: the "no complaining challenge." And let me tell you, it's definitely a challenge. We're talking about not even disparaging the weather despite its oppressiveness.

So as I go through the days trying to eliminate the negativity of complaining from my vocabulary, I'm realizing how much we all do it. Are there legitimate gripes to express? Of course... but I'm trying to better myself in various ways and this seemed like a good habit to tackle.

* * * * *

An attitude of gratitude...

Before the "no complaining" notion came across my radar, the concept of gratitude was presented to me over and over, both from books and via a YouTuber or two. Both YouTubers culled it from the same root source--a source, specifically a book, that I have also read this year...

So I've been practicing an attitude of gratitude. Not just your general off the cuff, spare a thought kind of thankfulness, but deliberate consideration of what I'm thankful for and also why... So I've been writing those down everyday. And it's been a great exercise in manifesting positivity and joy.

Along with gratitude, I'm positively affirming the things I'm not only hoping for but most definitely working toward. The change in thinking / mindset is a great motivator.

One of my daily affirmations goes like this: "I enjoy eating right and exercising regularly because both habits give me energy and are an investment in my future."

Let me tell, saying that several times daily has worked its magic. I'm making better food choices and I look forward to exercising each morning.

* * * * *

Extra Large Funko Pops Go NHL

Not that I want this one...but it's cool that there's finally a hockey player in the XL version.

If they come out with a Sidney Crosby, all bets are off. :0)

* * * * *

NOOM

We're trying Noom now...

DH signed up, but I didn't. The intake form said it could help me lose my four pounds by mid-August and I really don't need to pay $169 and change to lose pounds in three weeks. I can manage on my own, thank you very much. >>grins<<

So far tho, DH has lost a few pounds, so that's awesome. And I really like the way they categorize foods, so planning meals and snacks won't become a huge chore.

* * * * *

I hope you had a good weekend. Mine was productive.

Here's to an equally productive week.

Catch you Thursday.

 

In an upset that no one in the hockey world expected--the Montreal Canadiens advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

Last night, the Habs, as they're sometimes called, beat the Vegas Golden Knights in seven games. The Knights were one of three odds-on favorites to go all the way and win.

The Canadiens, on the other hand, finished 18th in the NHL at the end of the regular season (behind my Dallas Stars) but 4th in their division and earning themselves a spot in the playoffs.

Once making the playoffs, they took down the Toronto Maple Leafs, the League's 6th best team (by points) and then swept the Winnipeg Jets (only 14th best).

 This is their first trip to the Final since 1993--that's twenty-eight years!

After tonight, we'll know who they'll be playing--last year's Stanley Cup champs (the Tampa Bay Lightning) or the New York Islanders, who themselves haven't made the Finals since 1984. They've made the playoffs plenty of times, as have the Habs, but neither team has gotten to the Final in decades.

Despite losing $15 on my Stanley Cup Final wagers--$5 when the Stars didn't make it to the post-season, $5 when the Colorado Avalanche lost to the Golden Knights, and then last night when the Golden Knights lost to the Canadiens--I'm tickled red, white, and blue for the Habs.

LET'S GO HABS!

As always, have a great weekend. :0)

 

We got the win...

  

...and we're headed for the Stanley Cup Finals!!!

 The boys will get a much needed extra few days to rest and then it'll be on to the Finals.

And just for shits and giggles...we used to see this clip in the arena during games but not often anymore...and I miss it.

Have a great week. Wheeeeee!!!!!!!!!!

 

First I'd like to say that, sadly, birthday boy Sidney Crosby and his team the Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated from the playoffs on Friday. What a sucky birthday. :0(

But!

On to more amusing things. I mentioned a week or so ago that hockey is back and being played in two "bubbles" in two cities to keep players and staff and officials and everyone as safe as they can be. One thing that's not in the bubbles are fans.

Us fan are watching from home. But the NHL has given a humorous nod to just how strange the whole situation is. So on the jumbo-tron at various games, fans have been treated to the following memes:

On happier note--my Stars finally won a game in spectacular comeback fashion. The win was really nothing more than a great morale booster but they needed it and badly.

Hope you had a great weekend.

The NHL's thirty-second team finally has a name and a logo, a color scheme and uniform designs.





And I gotta say, I'm really excited about it.

Sadly they already named the arena, but if certain sectors of the fandon have their say, the Climate Pledge Arena may end up being affectionately known as the Krak House. I know it's funny on the one hand, but on the other--come on--it so is.

A lot names were bandied about by hockey writers and pod casters and I don't think most of them thought the Seattle team would end up with a such a cool name. I mean, we're talking about the NHL here. One of the oldest of the old boys clubs here and very traditional.

The leadership group for the team...well, they done good by the city and by fans of hockey.

They don't have a players yet. There will be an expansion draft next spring, I think, and they'll begin play in the 2021-2022 season.

Let's go, Kraken, let's go!!

Have a great weekend!!

Today, my hockey partners in crime are one of the biggest events of a hockey season:

The Winter Classic -- an outdoor hockey game played on New Years Day.

This year it just so happens to be in North Texas and my beloved Stars are playing host to the Nashville Predators.

I will have pictures of the actual event on Friday.

Have a great day and a blessed 2020!

Today I'm lamenting...

Last weekend news broke that Nate Schmidt, defenseman for the Vegas Golden Knights, has been suspended for the first 20 games of the hockey season for violating policy on performance enhancing drugs.

Of course, you never want to see this kind of story, but when it's about a player you really like--whose jersey is the first-ever authentic sports jersey you've ever owned and bought for yourself--it's a blow. You think, "no way, not this guy."


Even once you've read all the articles and you hear arguments from both sides, it's still hard to know what the truth really is.

Based on the little I've read on the NHL's testing policy (very sparse), it stands to reason that we don't hear about hockey players testing positive for anything. But are there really no NHL players using any kind of drugs? There are between 700 and 1000 players in the league at any given time. The whole thing begs a few questions... Why this guy? Why now? Why a player who appears to be well-liked across the board?

This just makes me really sad.

DD and I only stuck around through Dallas's pick at #13. As I said in a previous post, it was more the experience of attending since it was here in Dallas than any great interest in the actual draft. Most of these boys won't be playing in an NHL game for a few more years, so we don't care much about it. But each pick only took a few minutes, so we stuck around for Dallas's and were still home before it was completely dark. YAY!

But before all of that, I attended the Draft Fan Fest, which is what exactly what it sounds like. The event started at noon, although I didn't get there until about  3:15. I jumped in a line for autographs and got Stephen Johns' autograph--the same player who was the guest at my podcast event the night before.

I got my picture taken with the Stanley Cup!! How freakin' cool is that??



After seeing the Cup, I was gonna go grab a bit to eat, but then I saw the autographs was way too freaking long for the person who came after Stephen John--I honestly don't even know who the guy was--and realized that people were already in line for

drum roll please

Jamie Benn--the Dallas Stars captain and one of the team's two most popular players.

There's a sweet young woman in my life who loves Jamie Benn. She was supposed to come with DD to the Draft, but her little boy was sick and she's a single mom, so she stayed home to care for her little one.

I stood in line for close to two hours to get an autograph for her. I can't wait to see her face when I give it to her.



Because there were so many people for autographs, there were no selfies allowed, so all pictures had to be taken while waiting in line and around other people already standing in front of him.

A fun day was had by moi!!

For the first time in the franchise's forty-four year history, the Washington Capitals have won the hardest trophy in sports to win: the Stanley Cup.

The 2018 NHL Draft will be here in North Texas. I'm so excited I could spit. Not because I care all that much about the draft, but because a) it's a new hockey experience to partake in, b) there are fan activities prior to the actual draft in Victory Plaza of the AAC, c) an evening spent with DD, and maybe the most exciting of all...

Puck Soup Live Dallas Edition.


The guys who create my favorite hockey podcast will be in town covering the draft and they have done live shows in other cities they've visited as a result of traveling for the job (hockey writers). As soon as I heard the draft was going to be in Dallas, I was pretty confident they were going to at least attempt to get a live show set up. And they are. Waiting eagerly for the announcement of tickets.

So that happened.

Each series is best of seven. The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the L.A. Kings in a sweep.

This is no longer just the best story in hockey this year, but probably the best story in all of sports.

No one had any expectations of a rag tag team of players culled from those not high enough in the hierarchy of other teams to be protected. They came together. They bonded. They rallied around their new home when tragedy stuck last October. And they won. Their first away game. Their first home game.

And won and won and won enough games to make into the playoffs. Not just sliding in as the second wild card team, but as the champs of their division.

And then this.

Not much to say, but GO KNIGHTS GO!

So...in all the hockey talk on my blog, I haven't said much of anything about the NHL's latest expansion team.

This year, the NHL added a 31st team to the League: the Vegas Golden Knights. They populated their roster with one player chosen from each of the thirty other teams. Each team was allowed to protect a certain number of players/combination of positions. There were a lot of deals made behind the scenes leading into the expansion draft to protect additional players. To be honest, I don't remember who the Knights pilfered from Dallas and it's not important.

What IS important is that the Stars will be playing the Knights in their home/season opener and guess who's going to be in attendance??

Yep. Me. I'm so excited to see this match-up. One of the things I'm most excited about is seeing Marc-Andre Fluery in the net... I hope the Dallas crowd cheers him on when he's introduced because he's a beloved player across the league--in fact, he got a standing ovation from everyone in attendance at the expansion draft/NHL awards ceremony, players and fans alike.


Mr. Fleury was plucked from the back-to-back Stanley Cup winning Penguins (remember them, lol?) by Las Vegas. He's gonna prove a challenge to our boys, that for certain.

I'm excited, but I'm nervous too. The Stars didn't do so hot last season, and I just want them to acquit themselves well at home on opening day against a brand new team. It'll be kinda embarrassing if they don't, huh?

Keep your fingers crossed on their behalf, would you??

For the first time since 2009, an NHL team has returned to the Stanley Cup finals for a second year in a row. In fact, in 2009, both teams were repeat finalists. The Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins played each other both in 2008 and 2009. The Red Wings won the Cup in 2008, the Penguins in 2009.

Now that The Penguins have made it to the Stanley Cup finals for the second year in a row once again, they're trying for back-to-back wins. The last time that happened was in 1997 and 1998 by none other than...the Detroit Red Wings!

As a side note, for the first time in twenty-five years, the Red Wings did not even make into the playoffs this year. That's kinda sad.

My second favorite player, Justin Schultz, got a goal and an assist in his first game back after missing several games with a shoulder injury... Now I really need that shirt I ordered. :0)


The Stanley Cup Final starts Monday night. Can't wait...

Sorry, friends, I'm tired and my brain is too full to pull anything out that makes sense, so I just looked up some interesting thing about hockey and I'm gonna share a few with you. These come from this website if you want to read them all: http://www.kickassfacts.com/30-kickass-interesting-facts-about-ice-hockey/

4. Clint Malarchuk, while playing for Buffalo Sabres in 1989 had his throat slit open (jugular vein) during a game. The only reason he was able to survive was because of his trainer, who a former Army medic. His trainer reached into his neck and pinched off the bleeding until the doctors arrived.

6. Even if Wayne Gretzky had never scored a single goal, he would still have more points than any other past or present hockey player. He had more career assists than any other player has total points.

14. In Space Jam, after Daffy suggests naming the team “the Ducks”, Bugs asks “Please! What kind of Mickey Mouse organization would name their team The Ducks?” This actually did happen. In 1993, Anaheim Ducks were established by The Walt Disney Company.

16. Doctors in British Columbia are banned from talking about hockey during surgery.

19. At the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, NHL pro Jarome Iginla struck up a conversation with four fans sitting next to his table and found out that they were sleeping in their car. He excused himself from the conversation and booked them at his own expense at the hotel his family was staying in.

20. If both NHL goalies are injured, the team can literally choose any available goalie to suit up and play and this includes fans.

22. Tiger Williams holds the record for most career penalty minutes in the NHL. He has spent approximately 2.7 days (3966 minutes) of his professional life in the penalty box.

27. There are two dozen engraving errors on the Stanley Cup including misspelling Boston as “Bqstqn”, the Toronto Maple Leafs as “Maple Leaes,” and the New York Islanders as “Ilanders.” Only one of the errors is not a spelling error. When the Oilers won the cup in 83-84, owner Peter Pocklington had his dad’s name snuck onto the team roster. The NHL caught the error later and had Basil Pocklington’s name crossed out with X’s.

28. The 1919 Stanley Cup Finals was the only game where no winner was declared due to an influenza outbreak, which hospitalized most of players from Montreal Canadiens and their general manager.

Talk to you Friday...

Even with my daily longer-than-normal list of things to do each day and despite crossing off the bulk of those items, I'm not feeling like I'm making progress.

Last night I sat down to revise for a minimum of an hour. When I looked at the clock in my office when I was done, I thought 'wow, I worked two hours!' It felt like two hours, but it turns out it was only an hour. :( The clock in my office is an hour off... It really did feel like two hours.

Maybe I'm just tired because I've had so many things to accomplish (and done so) and I started back to the gym after two weeks of not going.

But I'm definitely happy it's Friday even though Saturday will probably be busy with writer group stuff. I'm looking forward to Sunday. And I'm hoping that next week I'll be feeling a little more energetic.

On a more sporty note...the STARS won last night and my favorite STAR, Tyler Seguin, was chosen for the NHL All Star Game. This makes his fourth time being selected. Way to go boys!