Skates, skates, skates

I love skating. Ice hockey skating, that is. I had some issues with skates when I first started (think: skates 4 sizes too big) but then I found a pair of Bauer Supreme 6000 (made in Canada) and they were like butta'. After four years, it was time to retire them. They had lost all their support in the ankles. Damn. So I went in November and got Bauer (now Nike crap made in China) Supreme 70 [picture on the right]. At first I LOVED them like my 6000. Then, one week into wearing them, I blew out the top left grommet on the right boot. Huh? $240 skates? (I wear junior sizes so I save $200 on them.) Bauer warrantied them and gave me another pair. Yep. One week later, same grommet. Same boot. Same problem. Bauer decided it was me, not their Chinese boot. They did "give" me another pair but told me under no uncertain terms that this was the last pair they'd "give" me. This one lasted two weeks. Shit. Damn. Fuck. (Can I say fuck on Blogspot?)

So the boys at PB, my fav hockey shop, convinced me to get custom Graf 705 skates [picture on the left]. All leather. Made in Canada. Craftmanship guaranteed for life. I did it. What did I have to lose, other than $420. On February 2, I spent almost an hour having my foot measured (very tickly) and now I wait. It could take up to 12 weeks. Sure hope that Chinese plastic holds up until then.

Quotes v.2

Coach: "B, you need to come across my face."

Me: "........"

Coach: "Squat and explode."

Me: "wow."

Coach: "Get in and get out. You need to come faster."

Me: "Really. Hmmmm..."

more ramblings...

I don't sleep much. I don't know why. I love sleep. I just don't seem to get much of it. Okay, I do know why. I get up early to play hockey or workout. Then I stay up late to play hockey in games that start at 11:45pm, or do laundry (sniffing included), or scrap, or just futz.

H and I went to see In Bruges a couple weeks ago. I was SO excited. Love Indies. Love the Irish accent, Scottish ones, too. But from the first two notes of the opening music I knew it was going to be trouble. And it was. It was dark: Tarantino-on-crack-killing-innocent-people-you-care-about dark. It did have one of my most favorite movie lines of all time, though. When asked if he likes it in Bruges, Collin Farrel's character says, "Well, if I was raised on a farm and was retarded, I might like it here. But I wasn't, and I'm not...so, I don't." Just funny ass shit to me. But the precipitating act of them going to Bruges: not funny. And it just ends crazy.

Let me just get this out in the open. I'm a shopaholic. Well, I'm more of a collector of pretty things because I don't actually like to shop. I just like the end result of the shopping. If I could skip the traffic, parking, waiting in lines, dealing with dumb clerks, I'd like shopping. Don't think Internet shopping is the answer. I'm too impatient. I want it and I want it now. I like buying other people pretty things, too.

I'm also a procrastinator. I bought a great book that's supposed to help us stop procrastinating. Problem is, I never got around to reading it. It looks like a good book and would probably help, too.

I was really bitter to have to work on Leap Day. It's a free day for my employer. What a load of crap. I only get 7 paid holidays as it is and now I'm getting the same salary for 366 days as I get for 365 days. So I played hookey most of the day. I'll have to make up for it this weekend because like a good communist employer, the work must get done regardless of how many hours you've already put in.

My Favorite Things

• THAI food! For some reason, I can't get enough of the spices in Thai food right now. A few months ago it was mexican spices...weird. I don't even crave burritos anymore. Now it's Pad Thai and a spring roll. Yummy! A friend of mine when to Thailand for a month a few years ago. He had a great time and said the food was 100x better there. He ate and ate and ate. He even brought me back a souvie.
• My Bose QC3 headphones. Holy crap! If you don't have them, you should get them.
• Hockey lessons. Best workout, bar none. Helps that I have a great coach. Don't tell him that. He might get a big ego...too late.
• Dansko shoes. The only shoe I wear, other than my Adidias Response Trail runners. I have over 50 pairs. Shhh...don't tell anyone.
• My iPod. Seems cliche, but I do love it. Only problem is that my 80gb is F-U-L-L and the one I want, the 160gb is $400. Ugh.
• My iPod Shuffle for workouts. Little. Clips anywhere. Stays put. Stands up to sweat. No neoprene band on my arm to get sweat-logged. Yuk. Such an incredible technological advance from the early Walkman...
• Coach bags. No better purse in the world. Quality. Timeless. Functional.
• Scrapping swag. If you don't scrap you don't get it. I won't even try to explain.
• Coffee. Dark. Rich. Robust. I could drink it all day every day. I'm addicted. It's a good thing I chose coffee instead of say, whiskey or crack.