It’s my first day off in over two weeks. I’ve been so busy with work that I gave myself that last two nights off from the blog. Also, I haven’t had much to say. Work is going super well, but it’s all consuming. Fortunately, I’ve taken the lessons learned from last year and implemented them this year. Consequently, I work out before any shift and my production is more than double last year’s.
Nonetheless, it’s a bit isolating. I don’t leave the house ever, even my coffee is delivered. My social life has become my puppies. Obviously, they’re the best sales support staff I’ve ever worked with. Unfortunately, the hockey schedule hasn’t been great this year either. I’m missing a lot more games this year than I did last year.
I enjoyed my day off by finishing Maid on Netflix, cleaning around the house, binged the Great British Bake Off and baking. I started some brioche, which I’ll finish tomorrow after it rises for 24 hours. This evening, I baked some lasagna for dinner. Truly, this lasagna has been my favorite food since I was a little kid. My great grandma, my grandma and my mom all made it. Now, it’s my turn.
Anyway, it’s just after 7:00 pm and I’m ready for bed. Clearly, I’m adjusting well to the end daylights savings time. Or perhaps, it’s just that I’m utterly exhausted emotionally, mentally and physically. Needless to say, I’ll be in bed early again tonight. Hopefully, I’ll adjust to the time change some time soon.
I crushed it today at work, which was fabulous. Yesterday started quite slow, but turned out fantastically. Here’s hoping the rest of the week goes just as well. Perhaps I was inspired by the raise I was given. I had no idea I was getting it until I saw my paycheck. Color me surprised. Surprise or not, I’ll take it.
Back to excuses, my hubby reminded me that Goalielocks used to use homework to get out of doing chores. I probably excluded it because it was so far fetched. Truly, he’s never known for doing his homework without being pushed or at all for that matter. The Mayor came up with a ridiculous excuse in Utah, but I can’t remember it at the moment. I’m hoping Jake will remember it because it brought back the memory for him of the socks and shower episode in Orlando.
I also crushed my workout this morning. Mercifully, it was the ab and arm workout, which is by far the easiest of the three Dayan. I’m not looking forward to Friday’s workout as it looks like a real ass kicker. I’m now in week 4 of BBG 1.0 (now known as Kayla Itsines High Intensity 1.0.). This is the second time I’ve done 1.0 although it’s much different this time around. I look forward to seeing what the next eight weeks hold.
Prayer request: tonight the Hubby is cooking for a friend. His friend’s young baby was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis last week and was given a dire prognosis. Thankfully, he is proving the doctors wrong. Nevertheless, the family is need of support, prayers and meal. If there’s a financial need, I will share it here. Please keep them in your prayers.
Excuses are part of every parent’s life. Kids always have an excuse as to why they can’t do something you’ve asked them to do. I thought I’d share some of the gems my boys have come up with over the year. Naturally, this was inspired by the Mayor’s most recent excuse when I dared to ask him to take out the dog. So here’s the list in no particular order.
“I can’t, I just put my socks on.” – The Mayor when asked to take a shower after his hockey game.
“I can’t, it’s too dark outside for me.” – The Mayor when asked to take Athena out tonight.
“I can’t, I’m drinking my milk.” All of the boys when asked to do various things ranging from chores to homework.
“I can’t, I’m about to eat.” All of them.
“I can’t, there are toads outside.” The younger two when asked to take out the dogs.
“I can’t, he’s too strong for me.” The younger two when asked to take Anakin out.
“I can’t, I have to take a shower.” Ironically, this one also comes from the Mayor.
I feel like I’m missing a bunch and they’ll probably come to me later. Nevertheless, they’ve come up with some frustratingly yet funny. Naturally, I’ll have to adjust the Mayor’s curfew to coincide with his new found fear of the dark. Fortunately, I’m not afraid of the dark, so I took my sweet Piggie back outside. She’s definitely not quick to do her business, but I encounter nothing scary while waiting for her.
One excuse that has never made into the list of excuses in this house is “I can’t, I have homework to do.” Parenting is definitely and exercise in patience with the occasional mental and emotional breakdown peppered in their for fun. I’m sure as we finish the high school years and move into the college years, our younger two will come up with some great excuses.
Technology, specifically my internet, has been frustrating since Friday. I don’t know if the copious amounts of rain and flooding near the cable box screwed something up, but it hasn’t worked well since. In fact, my system hung up on five people today because my internet dropped service. Naturally, I switched over to my AT&T, but that service didn’t perform any better.
I spend a fortune every month for high speed internet, so when it doesn’t work it’s beyond frustrating. What am I paying for?! Frustration, mad clients and shitty customer service?! Unfortunately, it’s Monday, so I didn’t have the emotional or mental energy to call support for either internet provider. Instinctively, I knew calling them would only make me angrier.
Despite the tech glitches all afternoon, I still had a great sales day. Obviously, it would have been a better day if I hadn’t lost so much time on the phones this afternoon. For a Monday, it was relatively boring which was nice. What I mean by boring is that I didn’t have any dumpster fire or mean customers. This is always a win. I love days like this because their filled with great conversation and lots of sales.
The biggest challenge on the week days is the meals. I’m way too tired to cook by the time I finish work. The Hubby is at hockey practice three out of five days, so him cooking is a no go. Sadly, and I’m embarrassed to admit it, but frozen pizzas have been our go to dinner since AEP started. I’m sure the kids and hubby will by thrilled when AEP is over and I can go back to cooking.
It’s amazing how success and failure can redefined in our minds as time goes on. My day at work was arduous and slow, but still quite lucrative. In fact, it was more than double the business I wrote this same time last year. Yet I left work feeling defeated for not hitting my personal goal. This despite the fact I worked over twelve hours today.
Days like this remind me of how wonderful and horrible people can be. On one call I’d speak tor the coolest person ever. Unfortunately, the next call would be the biggest tool ever. There are some truly miserable people out there. Honestly, it must really suck to live their lives. I can’t imagine how terrible their lives must be that they act so horribly. Meanwhile, some people I work with are in terribly tough situations, but are the sweetest, kindest soul you could ever meet.
Speaking of redefined, I’ve had to redefine my expectations for running. I’ve been back to running since 2019 (albeit not consistently,) yet I’m still so slow. Before I got hurt and sick, I got my split time on a 5k down to 9 minutes and 14 seconds. Now a fast mile more me is nearly eleven minutes. Needless to say, I’m not thrilled about it. I’ve redefined success to being able to run two miles three times a week either on the treadmill or outside.
No surprise here, but Coach Q resigned his role as head coach of the Florida Panthers. The Panthers are off to their best start in years and could be a serious contender for the cup. Fortunately, for all that is wrong with the Panthers, the team made the right decision on Coach Q. To keep him behind the bench would have been a mistake of disastrous proportions. The Panthers, along with the league, would have lost all credibility.
I, like many hockey fans, are still reeling from what happened in Chicago. How many other cases has hockey covered up over the years? How many other recommendation letters have they written for monsters allowing to continue their predation on vulnerable athletes. To be clear, this isn’t just a hockey problem. It’s a sports problem from the lowest level of the game to the highest level of the game.
For years USA Hockey has required participating coaches, managers, officials and hockey directors to complete Safesport training. Moreover, USA hockey built a reporting system by which Safesport violations could be reported without fear of reprisal. Or at least that’s what they say. But here’s the deal. When you report a Safesport violation, USA Hockey assigns it back to the USA Hockey affiliate for investigation and disposition.
The setup is problematic for many reasons. Perhaps the biggest problem is the close relationships between those on the affiliate board making it impossible for impartiality and discretion. If you report a SafeSport violation report, your identity is supposed to remain anonymous. Unfortunately, the victim’s identity too often becomes public inowledge or worse they’re persecuted for reporting a violation.
This is a problem that we have to solve. The days off sweeping Safesport violations and sexual abuse under the wrong have got to be over. We can no longer tolerate winning at all costs, including ignoring serious allegations like Beach’s. Kyle Beach has bravely stepped forward to tell his story. However, there are probably thousands of athletes that continue to suffer in silence. Until something changes, it can come as no surprise that the abuse of athletes will continue. I love hockey and my Florida Panthers, but I want to watch them play with a clean conscious.
As for work, I had a long but productive week. Nonetheless, I am ready to go to bed early and catch up on some rest. The morning workouts continue to go well, but its tough to get out of bed. Tomorrow Goalielocks and I are heading to see Luke Combs in concert. Its going to be epic.
Growing up in Minnesota, there was no bigger buzz kill on Halloween than your mother making you wear a jacket over your cool costume. The vast majority of Halloweens growing up were bitter cold and filled with snow. In fact the last Halloween I was allowed to trick-or-treat, my night out and candy haul were cut short by a historic blizzard. We made it less than two blocks before having to call it a night.
My kids, particularly the younger two, will never understand the pain of having to layer below and on top of your costumer. Admittedly, Halloween in Florida is much more enjoyable. Our neighborhood does it well with several houses having bars for the adults and great candy for the kids. Honestly, I missed all the Halloween fun that Covid cancelled last year.
Speaking of buzz kill, there’s nothing worse than someone who is unwilling to compromise at all. I’m fortunate that I’m no longer faced with this bull headedness at work. I wish I could say the same thing for the rest of my life. Even my dog is stubborn! Anyway, stubbornness without a willingness to compromise does nobody any favors and can destroy relationships. Fortunately, I can coax Athena into a compromise with a nice treat.
This week’s been long, so has this month for that matter. I love working from home, but it can be quite isolating. Not to be a total buzz kill, because my job is amazing and so is my life, but it can get pretty lonely. I know what you’re thinking. My loneliness is killing me (if you didn’t sing Britney Spears right then, we can’t be friends.). Anyway, I’m looking forward to the Luke Combs concert this weekend and getting out of the house. It will be nice to not be all myself.
The hardest thing about writing a blog is overcoming writer’s block. I had a working title and topic, but I’m not sure Google and SEO gods like words like fuckery. To be honest, the use is of the word is completely appropriate when discussing Facebook’s sheer and utter incompetence.
Since our oldest joined the service, I’ve had friend requests from countless fake accounts spoofing military leaders. I’ve reported each one and Facebook in all it’s awesomeness has done nothing. Rather they knowingly allow the spoof accounts to pray on service members and their families. Meanwhile the real accounts have been verified by the same entity that refuses to shut down the obviously fake accounts. Great job Facebook.
I shared the post from the hockey parent dumb ass on my blog last night. Unsurprisingly, his account is also fake. Apparently, this keyboard hero, who makes fun of officials for being afraid to take the ice, is afraid to make these comments from his real account. What a loser. Naturally, Facebook or the moderators of the forum should shutdown this fake troll account. Yet neither have decided to act on this despite the fact the troll acknowledged he setup a fake account. Anyway, Facebook has jumped the shark Reddit is significantly more interesting.
Anyway, the writer’s block has cleared. My two mile run was arduous this morning. I don’t know why it’s not getting any easier, but it’s super frustrating. Tomorrow morning I will be doing the BBG arms and ab workout. I’m planning to do yoga in the evening to help my muscles recover. I need to get back into the rhythm of practicing yoga daily. By the end of AEP, my yoga schedule will be back on track.
Well today was blah.. Mondays just suck in general. Work was crazy busy, but the leads were less than stellar. Honestly, I love being hung up on by elderly a-holes -said nobody ever. Nonetheless, I still pulled out a respectable day. It was just less than I expected from myself. Oh well, I’ll just have to make it up tomorrow.
My BBG workout went well this morning. It’s still quite a change getting a heavy workout in that early in the morning. Immediately afterwards I feel like I want to puke, but that doesn’t last too long. Once that wears off, I feel amazing. I love getting the workout done before work, so I have some freedom to myself after work.
In the hockey world, our state governing body sent out a letter to all parents and coaches. With the asinine rule changes implemented this year, the abuse of the officials has been exacerbated. Prior to the rule changes, the situation for many officials across the US, not just in South Florida, had become untenable. Now it’s exponentially worse.
Perhaps the most entertaining forum on Facebook is the Florida Youth Hockey Forum. It’s infamous for it’s highly uneducated keyboard warriors. They have big opinions and nothing to back them up. Nevertheless, it’s pure entertainment. It’s alway fun to read the comments after a tournament especially in the spring. It’s a complete gong show.
Today a gentlemen posted that the maltreatment of officials was unique to Florida because of the lack of quality officials in the state. Now he knows this because his kids have travelled all over the country playing hockey. Obviously, he missed the news reports out of Massachusetts about their official shortage, which is due to the misbehavior of parents and coaches.
There’s more than a couple holes in his argument, but the biggest is the simplest. He blames the quality of officials for the parents and coaches poor behavior. Except for those individuals have full control of their reaction. There are plenty of parents and coaches that react to what they feel is a bad call with civility and not barbarism. If these folks are unable to control their reactions and keep them within the realms of decency, perhaps they no longer have a place at the rink or the sports field.
My younger two are refs. Are they perfect refs, probably not. I guarantee you, however, that like their fellow officials they go out and do their best every game. I guarantee they know the game and it’s rules infinitely better than the asshole parent and coach. My boys have thick skin, so this stuff rolls off their back. However, everyone has a breaking point. The one time it did bother my son was because of how the parents’ behavior would negatively impact their child. Nobody wants to see a kid miss out on a game they love because their parents are tools.
Anyway, thanks my soapbox on the blah Monday. I’d also like to point out that today a Florida born official is making his NHL debut as a linesmen tonight. Congrats Killian! I guess Florida does have some quality refs after all.
The Mayor was cleared to play today. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to not be fighting that battle anymore. He’s been absolutely insufferable about going to hockey practice. I guess the upshot is that he’s totally committed to his team. Fortunately, he can get back to practice with a healthy shoulder next week. Thanks to John for making this possible.
Work has been busy, which is great. The days are absolutely flying by and the customers have been wonderful. Sure there’s been a couple of assholes in the mix, but the majority are wonderful people. I’ve had a productive week and looking forward to continuing that level of productivity throughout the remainder of AEP.
My morning workouts, well, they’re going. I’d like to say they’re going well, but I find the runs exponentially more difficult in the early morning. Strangely, the HIIT workouts don’t seem to be as challenging as the run. Fortunately, I will be doing a strength workout tomorrow. It feels so good to be back in a balanced routine. I was a cardio queen for too long, but now I’ve got a nice balanced routine.
One thing I’ve noticed since our trip to Utah is a lack of pain in my foot. In fact, this is the first time since 2018 that I’ve not had pain in my tendon. I guess it finally healed three years later. Aren’t tendon injuries fun? Needless to say, I’m still wearing the orthotics and brace (as needed) to keep the tendon healthy. Anyway, it’s nice to not have pain all the time. I guess I’m finally cleared to play too.
