In other words, the Baby Weight Loss Program has begun!
I haven't officiated a game since November of 2007. Why? Because I was 8 months pregnant with Elektra when the season started! I took my test anyway to stay current much to the surprise and amusement of my fellow officials (read: waddled in... waddled out...).
So the start of this season is exciting and nerve wracking for me. I'm excited to get back into the world of field hockey, to get outside, and be physically active again. But I've been wondering if I can keep up, physically and mentally.
I had a couple of scrimmage games on turf on Saturday. Turf makes for a very fast game, so I got to see how out of shape I am (not too bad, actually!). Turf also makes the fouls more subtle. I'm happy that I got most of them right, thought I can certainly use some improvement, particularly on my open field (between the 25's) skills. I'm very happy with my circle play, though, needing less tweaks than other parts of my game.
One of the refs that I've known for years was giving me pointers on my positioning which were great; I was working less hard by the end of the day, so that was good! She asked me how I was feeling and my answer was, "Physically - fine. Mentally - in a fog." She was surprised by this answer, and I continued, "I'm not actively processing what I see. I'm just going on instinct." To this, she answered, "It's the beginning of the season, and this is why we have practice games!" So glad that I'm not the only one. Hopefully, I'll work through the Mommy Fog sooner rather than later!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
As the Farve turns
Good grief Brett, MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!! Either retire or remain active.
Brett Favre unretired from the NFL by signing a contract with the Minnesota Vikings this week. This was after months of speculation, another declaration from Favre he was staying retired because his shoulder couldn't handle it, and more speculation that his declaration was all a farce (which clearly it was).
Don't get me wrong. I love watching Brett Favre play. At 39, is he pressing his luck physically? Sure he is. And after his last outing with the Jets, where the beginning half of the season was messy because he hadn't learned how to expertly execute the playbook and the end of the season, he looked like he was trying to force the ball into doing his will, I'm not convinced this is such a good idea.
However, I've been reading that the Vikings playbook is effectively the one he had in Green Bay so this transition won't be nearly as difficult.
Ok, but he missed preseason. Again. I swear it feels like his retirement is a way to skip pre-season.
One more thing to note, though, is that Favre wanted to go to Minnesota after Green Bay and Green Bay refused to comply with the request. I don't blame Green Bay's brass for that; why would you want your star quarterback who knows your offense and defense like the back of his hand to go to your rival and in-conference competitor that you will have to see a minimum of twice a year? So did he use continual retirement to get to the Vikings since Green Bay wouldn't deal him directly? It's not an inplausable theory.
Either way, though, I'm done with the Favre retirment. I celebrated his career when he retired the first time. His career with the Packers was the career to celebrate, and I look forward to when he's inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame as a Packer.
He has to STAY retired for that to happen though!!!
Brett Favre unretired from the NFL by signing a contract with the Minnesota Vikings this week. This was after months of speculation, another declaration from Favre he was staying retired because his shoulder couldn't handle it, and more speculation that his declaration was all a farce (which clearly it was).
Don't get me wrong. I love watching Brett Favre play. At 39, is he pressing his luck physically? Sure he is. And after his last outing with the Jets, where the beginning half of the season was messy because he hadn't learned how to expertly execute the playbook and the end of the season, he looked like he was trying to force the ball into doing his will, I'm not convinced this is such a good idea.
However, I've been reading that the Vikings playbook is effectively the one he had in Green Bay so this transition won't be nearly as difficult.
Ok, but he missed preseason. Again. I swear it feels like his retirement is a way to skip pre-season.
One more thing to note, though, is that Favre wanted to go to Minnesota after Green Bay and Green Bay refused to comply with the request. I don't blame Green Bay's brass for that; why would you want your star quarterback who knows your offense and defense like the back of his hand to go to your rival and in-conference competitor that you will have to see a minimum of twice a year? So did he use continual retirement to get to the Vikings since Green Bay wouldn't deal him directly? It's not an inplausable theory.
Either way, though, I'm done with the Favre retirment. I celebrated his career when he retired the first time. His career with the Packers was the career to celebrate, and I look forward to when he's inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame as a Packer.
He has to STAY retired for that to happen though!!!
Who says there are no politics in cheerleading??
File this under the One-More-Reason-Not-To-Have-A-Facebook-Account folder.
The TechDirt blog I read brought an article to my attention that stated with the following sentence:
Pause.
WHAT?
This just raises so many questions I almost don't know where to start. I'll just touch on two things.
First, why would a teacher believe (s)he has the power to demand but then actually follow through with that belief to actually demand a password to a personal Facebook account? If Facebook is blocked on the school's network, then the kids can't get to it using school property and thus, the kids only access it using personal equipment (computer at home, cell phone, etc). So whatever the kids are doing on Facebook cannot be in violation of any school rule because it's outside of school. So the teacher has no juristiction over activities on Facebook and in my not so humble opinion, abused his/her position of authority.
Second, why didn't the school's administration, upon reading personal messages, read the ISSUES in the emails not the WORDS in the emails?? Bullying is a big issue in middle and high school age kids. Tackle that problem, and the rest resolves itself. So as a parent, I would want the school's administration to support someone who stands up to a bully using words (not fists or any other violent method!), not punish the person because she used inappropriate language. Inappropriate language is a fact of life and as long as it's not on campus, then who cares??
Oh wait, that's because there are politics in cheerleading. Surprise!! There's a reason why there is a stereotype that there are politics in cheerleading, and this just proves that stereotype yet again!!
This article also underscores the firm belief that Steve and I have, as parents, that we need to teach our kids not only about physical security/safety (don't talk to strangers, etc), but also electronic security. Don't give your password out. The Internet immortalizes anything you post. Etc.
I wish I could say my parents had it easy raising us, but they just faced different challenges.
The TechDirt blog I read brought an article to my attention that stated with the following sentence:
A Mississippi high school student is suing her school district after a teacher logged into the student's social networking account and distributed information that embarrassed her and led to her removal from the team.
Pause.
WHAT?
This just raises so many questions I almost don't know where to start. I'll just touch on two things.
First, why would a teacher believe (s)he has the power to demand but then actually follow through with that belief to actually demand a password to a personal Facebook account? If Facebook is blocked on the school's network, then the kids can't get to it using school property and thus, the kids only access it using personal equipment (computer at home, cell phone, etc). So whatever the kids are doing on Facebook cannot be in violation of any school rule because it's outside of school. So the teacher has no juristiction over activities on Facebook and in my not so humble opinion, abused his/her position of authority.
Second, why didn't the school's administration, upon reading personal messages, read the ISSUES in the emails not the WORDS in the emails?? Bullying is a big issue in middle and high school age kids. Tackle that problem, and the rest resolves itself. So as a parent, I would want the school's administration to support someone who stands up to a bully using words (not fists or any other violent method!), not punish the person because she used inappropriate language. Inappropriate language is a fact of life and as long as it's not on campus, then who cares??
Oh wait, that's because there are politics in cheerleading. Surprise!! There's a reason why there is a stereotype that there are politics in cheerleading, and this just proves that stereotype yet again!!
This article also underscores the firm belief that Steve and I have, as parents, that we need to teach our kids not only about physical security/safety (don't talk to strangers, etc), but also electronic security. Don't give your password out. The Internet immortalizes anything you post. Etc.
I wish I could say my parents had it easy raising us, but they just faced different challenges.
Another example of the way Customer Service should be
Zappos.com is known for it's extraordinary customer service. TechDirt alerted me to an article that someone posted of his test of Zappos' customer service, demonstrating why online customer service should not be overlooked.
An exerpt to get you started:
An exerpt to get you started:
You are now chatting with JonathanThat last line of Jonathan's had me rolling on the floor laughing with tears in my eyes. I kept reading, and found that just because, Zappos chose to upgrade shipping this item to the customer at no extra charge. That the customer service rep has that power is a testiment to Zappos, I think! That story is enough to convince to at least consider shopping there!!
Jonathan: Hello Timmy. How can I help you?
Timmy: do you know how wide the G-Shock Atomic Solar – AWG101 SKU #7403774 is?
Timmy: i mean, how big a wrist it would fit?
Timmy: Timmy has a big fat wrist
Timmy: Timmy need watch grande
Jonathan: I’ll see what I can find out for Timmy.
Timmy: awesome. and can we please continue to talk about Timmy in the 3rd person? Timmy likes to boost Timmy’s ego by talking about Timmy that way
Jonathan: Jonathan would be happy to neglect the use of pronouns for the duration of this conversation.
Timmy: Jonathan and Timmy shall get along just fine
Friday, August 14, 2009
Naxx 10 SUCCESS!
Last night, Steve and I participated in a 10 man raid of Naxxramas with our guildmates in World of Warcraft. I was the main tank ("Nice landing strip." "We like to think of it as a throw rug.") and Steve was on his holy pally healing. Since I was main tank and because we were starting an hour late, I decided that I would take us through this dungeon at a clip.
An hour and 15 minutes later, we had blown through both the Aracnid and Plague Quarers of Naxx. I had successfully lived through tanking the Safety Dance (the two tanks and Steve were the only 3 left alive at the end of that! LOL) which was a first for me (the tanking part), and we were on our way to downing Patchwerk in the Construct Quarter.
At the 2 hour mark, we'd successfully completed the Construct Quarter, too. And we had one shot every boss up to that point, too. One person had to log, so we filled the spot and continued going.
The Military Quarter was a cinch until The Four Horsemen, and even that only really required creativity, flexibility, and awareness (i.e. battle rez the warlock!). In fact, that flexibility and awareness saved us when we were surprised that a Shade decided to crash our party while fighting Gothik the Harvester (wow that instance is BU-UGGED since the content patch!).
The bell tolled midnight, and the 4 Quarters of Naxxramas were dead... quiet. We had effectively blown through Naxx in 3 hours, one shotting all bosses. We zoned out of the Military Quarter and found ourselves in the Frostwyrm lair, the home of Sapphiron and Kel'Thuzad. Sapph is the KT's gigantic frost wyrm guardian and KT is, well, the guardian of Naxx. As a guild, we'd only been here once. The excited yet nervous energy was evident among the party.
"On your pull, Soph." With that cue, I growled the fiercest bear-growl I have, and charged at this skeletal dragon 400 times my size. And the bigger they are, the harder they fall because down he went after a 5 minute fight.
There was no way we weren't going to try our hand at KT, no matter how late it was, having gotten this far with no wipes. We were going to Press Our Luck.
After a quick explanation of the fight, I led the charge into KT's throne room. Phase 1 was wasn't too complicated. Phase 2 has its challenges, though, one of which being that you must be at least 10 yards away from every one of party members. This is hardest on melee types, especially if you have a lot of them because KT's hit box just isn't that big.
We got KT down to just over 50% when Steve's character - my dedicated healer as the main tank - died. This was ok as there were two other healers who could keep me and raid full of health. However, when KT's health fell to 50%, adds came out to wreak havoc on the party. At that point, a healer has to dedicate themselves to the offtank while the offtank keeps the adds busy and away from the party while the rest of party finished off KT. Now Steve's character's death could become a problem because now the one healer had to keep 7 people alive, including me, and I would be taking the bulk of the damage.
Decision time. Time to battle resurrect Steve's character. Prep first: apply my Valor Medal of the FIrst War (dodge) trinket + Barkskin + select Steve's character. Take a deep breath and.... cast Rebirth. This pulls me out of bear form into my very vulnerable and squishy caster form. Luckily, the Rebirth is a VERY fast cast, and I could quickly switch back into bear form without taking much damage. AWESOME!! I got my dedicated healer back, healed myself with my herbalism synergy skill, and we were back in business....
The achievement for killing KT popped up on the screen and the group was ELATED! We took a picture of all of us sitting on KT's throne as proof of his demise, and gleefully commented that our guild/raid leader was going to be irritated that we killed Sapph and KT without him.
We finished Naxx 10 in 3 hours and 15 minutes, one shotting all bosses (i.e. no wipes). Typically, it takes an hour per Quarter + half an hour to an hour for Sapph and KT. We crushed that typical timeline! We showed KT, and all of his minions, who's boss!
Finally, a night NOT full of fail. Grats to the Sek Sea Pirates!
An hour and 15 minutes later, we had blown through both the Aracnid and Plague Quarers of Naxx. I had successfully lived through tanking the Safety Dance (the two tanks and Steve were the only 3 left alive at the end of that! LOL) which was a first for me (the tanking part), and we were on our way to downing Patchwerk in the Construct Quarter.
At the 2 hour mark, we'd successfully completed the Construct Quarter, too. And we had one shot every boss up to that point, too. One person had to log, so we filled the spot and continued going.
The Military Quarter was a cinch until The Four Horsemen, and even that only really required creativity, flexibility, and awareness (i.e. battle rez the warlock!). In fact, that flexibility and awareness saved us when we were surprised that a Shade decided to crash our party while fighting Gothik the Harvester (wow that instance is BU-UGGED since the content patch!).
The bell tolled midnight, and the 4 Quarters of Naxxramas were dead... quiet. We had effectively blown through Naxx in 3 hours, one shotting all bosses. We zoned out of the Military Quarter and found ourselves in the Frostwyrm lair, the home of Sapphiron and Kel'Thuzad. Sapph is the KT's gigantic frost wyrm guardian and KT is, well, the guardian of Naxx. As a guild, we'd only been here once. The excited yet nervous energy was evident among the party.
"On your pull, Soph." With that cue, I growled the fiercest bear-growl I have, and charged at this skeletal dragon 400 times my size. And the bigger they are, the harder they fall because down he went after a 5 minute fight.
There was no way we weren't going to try our hand at KT, no matter how late it was, having gotten this far with no wipes. We were going to Press Our Luck.
After a quick explanation of the fight, I led the charge into KT's throne room. Phase 1 was wasn't too complicated. Phase 2 has its challenges, though, one of which being that you must be at least 10 yards away from every one of party members. This is hardest on melee types, especially if you have a lot of them because KT's hit box just isn't that big.
We got KT down to just over 50% when Steve's character - my dedicated healer as the main tank - died. This was ok as there were two other healers who could keep me and raid full of health. However, when KT's health fell to 50%, adds came out to wreak havoc on the party. At that point, a healer has to dedicate themselves to the offtank while the offtank keeps the adds busy and away from the party while the rest of party finished off KT. Now Steve's character's death could become a problem because now the one healer had to keep 7 people alive, including me, and I would be taking the bulk of the damage.
Decision time. Time to battle resurrect Steve's character. Prep first: apply my Valor Medal of the FIrst War (dodge) trinket + Barkskin + select Steve's character. Take a deep breath and.... cast Rebirth. This pulls me out of bear form into my very vulnerable and squishy caster form. Luckily, the Rebirth is a VERY fast cast, and I could quickly switch back into bear form without taking much damage. AWESOME!! I got my dedicated healer back, healed myself with my herbalism synergy skill, and we were back in business....
The achievement for killing KT popped up on the screen and the group was ELATED! We took a picture of all of us sitting on KT's throne as proof of his demise, and gleefully commented that our guild/raid leader was going to be irritated that we killed Sapph and KT without him.
We finished Naxx 10 in 3 hours and 15 minutes, one shotting all bosses (i.e. no wipes). Typically, it takes an hour per Quarter + half an hour to an hour for Sapph and KT. We crushed that typical timeline! We showed KT, and all of his minions, who's boss!
Finally, a night NOT full of fail. Grats to the Sek Sea Pirates!
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