Monday, March 27, 2017

STARS WIN!!!



Friday night I went to the Stars game with DD and one of her close girlfriends as part birthday celebrations for both girls. As you can see the Stars pulled off a win against the San Jose Sharks.

(DD on the right, her friend on the left.)

Not only did I get to experience my first live Stars win, but I also got to witness a live Hat Trick! This is when a single player scores three goals in one game. In response, fans throw their hats onto the rink. Congrats to Adam Cracknell for his first career Hat Trick.

 
 Those little black dots are the hats and the ice girls and others are skating around scooping them up.

I had a super time with the girls and watching the BOYS win.

Also, I wore the custom, hand-made Dallas Stars scarf my momma crocheted for me. It kept me warm throughout the game (without having to wear my coat). Of course, I was sitting about as far away from the ice as I could get--note the wall behind the girls.



THANKS MOMMA!!!! Love my scarf!


Friday, March 24, 2017

Feeling cozy and lazy...


It's rainy and cooler here than it's been and I feel like curling up with a good book and some hot tea and just reading the day away. Unfortunately, it's still the work day and I do have work to do.


Have a great weekend!


Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Random and Interesting Hockey Facts / Trivia


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...


Monday, March 20, 2017

Things are happening...


Not necessarily the things that need to happen--LIKE BOOK FIVE REVISIONS--but other exciting things like...

I am learning how to create my own ebook files: PDFs, epub, and mobi files. Well, really, I know how to create them...it's more learning how to tweak all the settings and coming up with consistent formatting from book to book, so I don't have to reinvent the wheel every time I want to publish a book.

Now, PDFs are easy, so...pfft!

The other two formats I create using Scrivener, one of the writing applications I use. They're a little more time consuming what with all the tweaking, but only a couple of hours at most. As I get more proficient and get formatting templates and setting templates worked out, then it'll be a matter of minutes.

The other fun thing that happened was that I have beta readers--basically first readers who tell you if your book/plot/characters work. One of my dear friends has a vast vast online network of people and she sent out a bat signal on my behalf. Three people volunteered to read book one for me and so I sent it out to those three generous ladies yesterday afternoon.

It's a bit nerve-wracking, I must say. Despite the fact that I've written fan fiction for years and it's out there in the world, and I've rarely had negative feedback on it. Two other friends of mine have read book one and were very complimentary, as has my editor been on all the books she's read so far.

I'm creeping closer and closer to the big day. Things are falling into place slowly but surely. For the most part...

I have a self imposed deadline of the 25th to finish book five revisions. I don't think that's going to happen. I chose that day in order to give myself time to put the book away for a rest before I planned to re-read it for any last minute adjustments before sending it off to my editor. I do have the leeway to push the deadline out, so for now I'm giving myself another week. April 1st, my friends.

I really need to just set my behind in a chair and get after it...and I will.

Hope you had a lovely weekend. I sure did.

Talk to you soon!


Friday, March 17, 2017

TGIF Friends!!


It's been a good week and it's writers group tomorrow, so I'm especially excited for the weekend.

Workouts are going great, and I'm just about completely this side of 130lbs! Saturday, while I'm at writers group, will be a "cheat" day and I'll enjoy some delicious slighty-but-not-terribly off plan food. Maybe even some delicious carbs in the form of an enchilada...that's sounding mighty tasty at the moment.

In other writers group news, the contest I coordinate is winding down. I just about have all the scores back for round one. Round two judging will be quick and easy in comparison to round one because five books to cycle through for each category, not 15, 20, or 25+. I've run this contest for all four years now, and I really need to train someone to take over for me just in case I can't do it anymore for whatever reason. It's hard to get people to volunteer though. It's a long-term event and for about the first quarter of each year it can chew up to an hour or so a day.

In other random news, the Stars won last night, but I think they're finally too far out of the running for even a wild card slot unless some freaky injuries happen to the four teams ahead of them.

Speaking of the Stars and hockey...I'm going to a game next Friday! It's DD's birthday next week and her friend is taking her to the game and they kindly invited me to tag along. Needless to say, I'm tickled and excited to be going and I hope hope hope they can pull off a win for me. They lost the two games I attended. :( DD says it's pretty awesome when they win, so keep your fingers crossed for them and for me.
That hot hockey boy there on the right, Tyler Seguin, scored a goal and assisted on another, earning himself two points last night!

And that is all for me, my friends. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!