Mini Olympic Sized State of the Union

I was going to comment on the "new" Mini-Stanley the Panthers introduced a couple of weeks ago. To give a bit of background, Mini-Stanley was originally introduced to help the younger kids feel more comfortable around the mascots. The character was (and still is) played by a little person. The original actress has moved on, and a new person is in the costume. At a game a couple of weeks ago, the Panthers had a video set-up of Mini-Stanley being sucked into the engine of a Zamboni, then needing reconstructive surgery to repair the face. They unveiled the new mask, and it looked like it had zombie eyes and very bad botox. I'm not sure if it was because of the mascot or the comments from friends that we sit next to, but my son had nightmares that night because of the new mask. I e-mailed the Panthers, and got a typical response of how it was not their intention to freak out the kids, and they hoped that my son would come to love the new Mini-Stanley just as much.

Moving on, but staying on a hockey subject. I have been trying to get my son to go skating more for public skating sessions, and he doesn't like doing that. He says it's boring just going around in circles. So, when we get a chance, we do "stick and puck" together. This is basically ice time where fathers and sons can get out on the ice and play hockey, practice different things, or whatever, without figure skaters, or random other people getting in the way. This past weekend, we went to a new rink in West Palm Beach called Palm Beach Ice Works. This rink only has hockey and figure skating with no public sessions. The rink is also Olympic sized which means it is bigger than a typical hockey rink. When we arrived at the rink, the person in charge didn't know they had stick and puck scheduled. As we were paying, one other person showed up with his son, and one of his son's friends came as well. So, after the Zamboni cleaned the ice, we were the only five people out there. After about an hour, nobody else showed up, and the guy and two kids left. Therefore, Shane and I had a full Olympic sized hockey rink all to ourselves. I think that is the most fun I had skating, it is just so cool having a rink to yourself.

I just finished watching the State of the Union speech. My first impression is that I'm glad he basically challenged both parties to get things done, especially the Republicans. I'll have to let it sink in a bit more to give more of an opinion, and wait for Fact Check to say what's true and false. I'm also glad he made a point to call out the Supreme Court for the decision last week to overturn centuries old laws and essentially stating the corporations have the same rights as people. That's all for now.

Work, Skating, Bicycles and Mini-Stanley

I haven't posted anything in a little bit. Mostly because I was thinking of throwing something up here, then work issues got in the way and I got pissed off. I'm sure throwing my thoughts up here may have helped, but for now, I just let it stew. Essentially, after a lot of fighting with the owners of the company, we made what I feel is a premature overreaction to the external situation currently occurring in the economy. I can somewhat understand, but I think it is something we should have done later if some of our other measures didn't have the desired result. Anyway, it's done, it's over, and I just need to move on and continue to grow the company. Given that, make sure you visit BarCharts and buy a guide or two.

I went skating today with Eric and JohnnyB. I am definitely feeling more comfortable on my skates, but still have a little way to go before I can try to play hockey. Anyway, that's my goal for this year to be able to at least try and learn with other old people like me and eventually play in a local "old guy" league.

After skating, I was thinking about wasting time and test-driving a Genesis. I have put together a spread sheet with various cars I am thinking about getting when I replace my Explorer later this year. Hopefully a few months after I don't have to spend the ridiculous amount I am every week for day care. Anyway, The Genesis ended up on the top of the list both with and without personal preference added in the scoring. I called Brenda as I was leaving the rink and she said Shane had something to show me. I figured anything Shane had to show me was way more important than wasting time for something I'm not ready to commit to yet. It turns out what Shane had to show me is that they took the training wheels off his bicycle and he is starting to learn how to ride without them. He made it up and down our street with Brenda next to him. I am really proud and impressed, we just got the bike for him for Christmas and he already has the training wheels off. I guess all that balancing on skates helps him.

I want to give a huge shout-out to Eric. Although it was due to unfortunate circumstances on both peoples parts, Eric has been talking to the person that plays "mini-Stanley" at the Panther games. During those conversations I believe Eric let Mini-Stanley know where we sit and we received a visit from Mini-Stanley during the Panthers/Islanders game. Shane absolutely loved it. I'm now off to the other rink because it's time for Shane's hockey. I'll try to be better at posting on more regular intervals.