Swine!

Okay, the president has said do not panic, but I am a Mom first, and therefore have already beaten everyone else to panic mode. Regarding the swine flu, Brendan and Sean, you are most vulnerable right now. You are in high-risk areas (college areas where people have very likely just been to Mexico). Even if your friends have not been to Mexico it is likely they could come into contact with friends who DID go to Mexico. So, I want you to start washing your hands frequently during the day, not just after using the necessary. Also, go to your local drug store and buy some hand sanitizer TODAY and use that even more frequently. Get some for your friends. Keep your hands away from your face because that is the way the virus spreads. The next seven days are critical in preventing the spread of the disease. If you feel sick at all, especially with a fever and body aches, get thee to a doctor ASAP! Medications can help reduce the complications if the illness is caught early. Why am I being like this? Because the people who died in Mexico were the young and healthy, just like you. As Benjamin Franklin said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

whew

Got some time back on my side and immediately found this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8014153.stm

Really, this is the homeland?

SMILE!

April 30. 10:30 AM. I get to join the world of retainers! Yes, folks, my braces come off in two weeks. Can you tell I am excited? So is my orthodontist. Remember when he put in that spring apparatus in my mouth about six months ago? Turns out, they never use that on adults because it was always assumed that it worked in conjunction with the growth patterns of young patients. I was experimental in that respect and he is very pleased with himself with the results. So am I. I will be smiling like a crazy woman during Brendan's graduation ceremonies. Speaking of which, have you ordered the tix yet??

Boston

As some of you may know, i'm out east right now, in the lovely city of Boston, playing some east coast lacrosse. we've been out here since friday morning and there are some things about boston i want to share with u.



first are the accents. i've heard them in movies and read about them in stephen king books but i thought they were making fun of them and going over the top. they arent. listening to boston people talk may be the funniest thing i have ever heard.


next are the roads. they have somthing similar to a michigan left only they call it a jug handle cuz thats wat it looks like. also, this may just b do to the fact we have been travelling in a bus, the lanes are really narrow.


now on to the lacrosse. friday night we were supposed to play BC at 7 but there was lightning in the area and they only had lights on the field in till 1030 so they reschedualed it for sunday morning. we played Northeastern this morning and won 10-6. we play BC at 930 sunday morning and play BU at 1. sunday afternoon.

2 games and a 15 hour bus ride await me tomorrow. yay for lacrosse road trips.



and fyi, 15 hours on a bus is not very much fun

Travel TV

I'm in Indianapolis Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. So, Wednesday night I decide to workout at the hotel. Fitness room is just a couple treadmills and a widescreen TV but no HD. The hotel has locked the settings to stretch so everything is a little distorted and fuzzy (maybe it's my eyes).

Anyway, I flip through a bunch of channels and I find college hockey. The NCAA East Regional Finals - Air Force vs Vermont. Start of the 3rd period. Cool!

I put my headphones on with Cheap Trick at Budkan - TV volume off and the WSJ for reading. Perfect. After a while jogging I speed up the treadmill and stop reading and start watching the game. The print is too small to read when my head is bouncing around.

So there is like 5 minutes left in the 3rd. I look at the ESPNU score banner and I think Vermont is up 3-2. But Airforce is not playing like it's the end of the game. I can't figure why they are playing back and they don't pull the goalie. Period is over and the big score graphic comes on and it really is 2-2. They are going to overtime.

That explains why they were playing so defensively. The OT starts and I see on the small banner graphic that 3 is the seed or poll ranking or something for Vermont but it was not the score.

OK - I was confused or blind or the TV was blurry. Anyway now we are in overtime and I am at about a mile and a quarter. More jogging more music - love the album.

Then with 10 minutes to go there is video review. TV volume is still off cause I don't want to miss the last couple tracks including Surrender. ( I ripped the songs from the 1998 2 CD release).

ESPNU is showing something that is not very controversial. A save by Air Force goalie, an Air Force player in the net and then the puck is covered by an Air Force player at the edge of the crease. I'm not sure what the delay is for. Maybe covering puck with glove in crease (not the goalie). That would be a penalty shot. OK.

ESPNU has a camera behind the official scorers and we can see the NCAA replay monitor. The two refs are not watching the same play that ESPNU has been showing. They are watching something else. TV sound still off cause Surrender is just starting and no way I'm turning that song off.

So finally ESPNU gets the right replay. A shot by Vermont from the point that seemed to go wide. They they slow it down and show more angles and then frame by frame. They are taking forever. By now the last song on disc one Auf Wiedersehen is playing.

Finally they have the frame by fram overhead view zoomed in -

The puck went through the net!!!

Amazing

Disc One is over so I turn up the TV volume just as the refs signal goal for Vermont. The players go crazy. And the announcer says "good thing this is Saturday night because its pretty late.

So - I was watching a replay. I have been on the road since Thursday morning and I had missed the whole regional brackets. Out of touch with hockey - so sad.

There is a message in all this - I wish I knew what it was.