Maintaining Metabolism

Its certainly no secret that as we age, our metabolism slows.  And it also no secret that smokers are less prone to weight gain, due in large part to nicotine’s effect as an appetite suppressant.  So, it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that since quitting at the beginning of ‘07, I’ve gained some weight.  Not a ton, but I’ve easily packed on around 15 pounds, which wouldn’t be all that bad in itself, except for the fact that its concentrated in areas where I’d rather it not be.

In the interest of developing healthy life-long habits, Carrie and are establishing an exercise routine that gets us into doing something active 3 times a week.  I think that’s a good, realistic plan, because trying to do more than that seems to be setting ourselves up for failure.  Instead, we’ll do something active on the weekend, again on Tuesdays and then we’ve got softball on Thursdays.  For our non-softball exercise, we’re planning on doing a totally non-rigid mix of walking, bike riding, jogging and whatever else we feel like – perhaps playing catch, tennis (if she’s a good teacher), ice skating, inline skating, and the like.  Again, nothing crazy, just something to get our metabolism up and keep us active, healthy and, most importantly, happy.

This brings to mind one of the few positive aspects of where we live now – access to recreational stuff.  While living in Shelby had us very near a pretty large park, simply getting to that park was a task that required, for example, loading the bikes on the carrier, as well as the requisite park pass.  In short, it was somewhat less conducive to facilitating a regular and easy routine.  Where we’re at now, we simply hop on our bikes and ride a mere 0.7 miles to Rosie’s Park in our neighborhood.  Its much easier and requires less time, so we actually end up doing it.  Go figure!

Hopefully, getting into this routine now will help us stick with it, or some other form of exercise, in the late-Fall and Winter months.  Obviously we won’t always be down for heading out into some Michigan nastiness in the dead of Winter, but the hope is that getting into this routine will make us want to do something substantial, even if its not outside.  And hopefully it’ll mean I can continue to have a similar diet as I do now, only with slightly less of a “bun in the oven” look. 

Complete Exhaustion

I’m not sure exactly when it started, but I’ve been on a steady decline in my overall energy since sometime this last weekend, or possibly early this work week.  I’m hesitant to say it was the weekend, because aside from spending Sunday afternoon at Carrie’s second cousin’s 10th birthday party, I didn’t really do anything.  I’m thinking the exhaustion started as a result of not getting enough sleep on Sunday night, which perhaps set the tone for the week, during which I endured some rather unhealthy sleep.  I’ve been waking up at odd times here and there, which can be brutal, especially after a late bedtime.

I sort of had a chance to catch up on mental rest yesterday, as a result of a brown-out at the office, which resulted in us being sent home after an hour.  But even though being at home was decidedly more relaxing than being in the office, I was probably far more productive, getting the grass cut, some laundry done, the dishes washed, the kitchen cleaned and the living room sort of straightened up.  Add in playing softball yesterday evening in the 90-degree humid nastiness, and I was flat-out pooped when my head finally hit the pillow, and the alarm clock seemed to go off only seconds afterward.  I hate that feeling.

So today, I’m feeling the culmination of a very exhausting week, where it seemed like the odds were against my getting any decent rest.  Carrie, being the kick-ass partner in crime she is, even made me do practically nothing one evening, while she essentially waited on me hand-and-foot.  And while that certainly helped, I think it was a lost cause at that point.  There were just too many things that didn’t go well that resulted in my not getting the rest I need.

Thankfully, having the day “off” yesterday enabled me to get the grass cut, which I typically reserve for Saturday mornings.  The house is generally in good order, and about half of the laundry is done.  All this, I think, will enable a pretty lazy weekend for us.  I’ve got to watch Nixon, which has been sitting in it’s Netflix envelope since Wednesday.  Carrie has no interest in seeing it, and since its over 3 hours, Saturday morning seems like the perfect opportunity to watch that.  We’ve also got 2 other movies to watch – Death to Smoochy and The Darwin Awards – the first of which we’ve both seen and love, the second of which we haven’t seen.  And, of course, this is The Dark Knight weekend, and we’re watching Batman Begins Saturday night, followed by the sequel at 10:00AM on Sunday.

I’m thinking this weekend will be pretty restful.  And not a moment too soon!

Not so Fast

Holy crap am I tired.  Its been a while since I’ve had to function at a high level on a mere 4 hours of sleep.  But it was worth it, even though the Wings lost a heartbreaker in triple overtime – 109 minutes and 57 seconds of some pretty entertaining hockey.

It started off horribly, with the Wings playing like an inexperienced bunch of rookies in the first period, which allowed the Penguins to grab a 2-goal lead.  The Wings were able to fight back and eventually take the lead in the third period, but the Penguins scored with just 33.4 seconds left in the game to force overtime.  That’s right – the Wings were a half-minute away from hoisting Lord Stanley.  The Cup had been polished.  The champagne was in the locker room.  All they had to do was weather the storm, and they couldn’t.

So, its off to Pittsburgh for game 6 in what will undoubtedly be a crazy atmosphere, as their fans now have a glimmer of hope.  Again.

Cup Memories

In a Playoff season that started with much anticipation and excitement on my part, the Wings are on the verge of winning the Stanley Cup on home ice, and once again I am trembling with excitement.

This playoff run has been especially special to me, mostly due to the happenings in my personal life that have been occurring before and during this season’s Cup run.  My life has changed in pretty dramatic ways in the last year, but at the same time, it hasn’t really changed at all – both of which are very good things, albeit rather confusing to anyone not inside my head.  And when I look back, I realize that many special moments in my life have been punctuated by the Wings capturing sports most treasured trophy.

The first cup for the modern Wings was in 1997, which was the year I graduated from high school.  In fact, I watched the final period and the subsequent celebration from the all-night senior party at my school.  The following year they won again, and I remember being the midst of my first “real” and “serious” relationship of my “adult” life – and yes, all of those quotation marks are necessary, in retrospect.  I had completed a year of college, and things were pretty tumultuous at the time.  When they won again in 2002, I had recently returned from a fishing excursion with my father (during which we missed one of the greatest games in Wings history), gotten a new car and felt on top of the World.  I remember being hammered drunk at The Downtowner in downtown Houghton, MI and watching coach Scotty Bowman lacing up his skates before hoisting the final cup of his stellar career.

And its only fitting that as the Wings are on the verge of their 4th cup in 11 seasons, my life is at its most crucial and exciting period to date, one that is so real and genuine in its importance that its hard to overstate.  And for the first time, the memories of right now will resonate throughout my life like none before it.

Go Wings!

Pathetic Pittsburgh Coach

With the Detroit Red Wings leading the Stanley Cup Finals series 2-0, its understandable that there would be some frustration from the opposing Pittsburgh Penguins.  Considering the Penguins have yet to score a goal in the series, its even forgivable, to an extent.

After game 2, Penguins coach Michel Therrien went on a little tirade about how the Wings break and bend the rules, and get away with it.  Lets forget for a moment that such an accusation isn’t true (the Wings lead the playoffs in goals disallowed, for example), and give him a Mulligan, since he was obviously frustrated with his team’s lack of success after being totally dominated for the second consecutive game.

Well, he was back at it yesterday, again regurgitating the same whiny bullshit.  If that were my team, his ass would be fired as soon as the Wings get around to hoisting the Stanley Cup, and not a moment later.  This Pittsburgh team is exceptionally talented, and for a team that was almost sold and moved away a few years ago, the turnaround has been nothing short of remarkable.  They have an incredibly talented bunch of players, though they’re all quite young and inexperienced.  And with that inexperience comes impressionability.  If I owned the team, there’s no way in hell I would want such a toxic, blame everyone else mentality around my players.  If you want to bitch about the officiating, go right ahead and do so in the post-game press conference.  Anything beyond that is juvenile, and distracts attention from the things you can control.  You know, things like scoring.

But whatever.  Let him bitch and moan and cry and stomp his feet all he wants.  The Wings will be busy taking care of business.

Finally: Wings Advance

The Detroit Red Wings have advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2002.  And while I’m crazy excited, I’m also a tiny bit ashamed.  I started to lose faith in them in recent days, as they let a 3-0 stranglehold on the Dallas Stars dwindle down to a 3-2 series lead.  In fact, I even stated yesterday at work that the Wings were “done”, though this comment was largely an exaggeration, and intended to stave off having to talk about hockey with anyone.  I work with far too many alarmists for hockey talk to be enjoyable when the going gets rough.  And no, I’m not an alarmist – when I was concerned that they were finished, I was fairly calm.

So, the Wings will host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday at 8:00 PM in game 1 of the Stanley  Cup Finals in what will be quite an entertaining series.  The Wings are a very well-rounded team with excellent puck possession skills and a stingy, disciplined defense, while the Penguins are a fast, young team with incredible scoring depth.  If everything else were a wash, the Wings would have the advantage in terms of experience, though that may or may not be a factor.

Let’s go Wings!

As Ozzie Goes, So Go the Wings

The 2008 Conference Finals are set to begin tonight, with the two teams from the West – Detroit hosting Dallas.  The Eastern Conference gets under way tomorrow night, with Pittsburgh hosting Philadelphia.

The Detroit Red Wings have the edge in this series, but they’re going to need goaltender Chris Osgood to lead the way.  The Dallas Stars has a very well-rounded offense that can cause serious damage, more so than the other teams the Wings have faced in their playoff run.  And while Ozzie has been great so far, his best hockey needs to be ahead of him if the Wings hope to win this one.

Its pretty interesting, especially for me, because I’ve been an avid Wings fan since around ‘85 or ‘86, and I’ve been witness to Osgood’s evolution from the beginning.  The goalie he is now – or rather, the player he is now – is quite different from that of a decade ago, when he helped the Wings to their second of two consecutive championships.  He’s more relaxed, at ease and reliable.  He’s more mature, which is one of the most important characteristics for success in the Playoffs.

This series should be superbly entertaining, certainly more than was the Colorado series.  Go Wings!

Off to see the Wizard

For those who aren’t following the NHL Playoffs, Detroit’s Dominic Hasek has been both brilliant and boneheaded in these playoffs.  He almost single-handedly won game 2 for the Wings, and almost single-handedly lost game 4.  He was replaced by Chris Osgood in that last game at about the halfway mark after surrendering a pair of goals in a short span for the fourth time in the series.  Yeah, you read that right – he’s given up back-to-back goals in less than a minute three times, with the other breakdown spanning about 2 minutes.  Obviously, for a Hall of Fame net minder on a team whose only acceptable Playoff outcome is to get at least to the Conference Finals, this is totally unacceptable.

So, for tonight’s game 5, with the series returning to Detroit tied 2-2 with Nashville, Chris Osgood is starting, and I couldn’t be happier.  Its not that I’m glad the Wings threw away a stranglehold on the Predators in this series, but I’ve always been a big fan of Ozzy, since he arrived back in the early 90’s as Tim Cheveldae’s backup.  And he’s never been a better goalie than he is right now.  He’s got all the talent he’s ever had, now combined with the cool, calm and collected demeanor that only a seasoned veteran can posses.

Its going to be a great day – awesomely warm and sunny, and I’m gonna get my drink on watching some hockey.  Damn I love Playoff hockey!

Finally – a restful Sunday!

For the first time in quite a while, I feel rested following the weekend.  I’m tired and could easily take a nap, but I’m not to-the-bone exhausted and feeling miserable like has been the case recently.  Its probably because of the awesome Sunday Carrie and I had, which consisted of getting out of bed before 6 (if memory serves – I didn’t pay much attention to the clock) eating breakfast by 8 and bouncing around the house getting small, easy tasks done.

At around 12, we headed out to Best Buy so I could spend my B-day gift card I received from her parents and then on to go ice skating at 12:30.  When we got home at around 2, we decided on pizza and salad, after which we took a nap for a little over an hour until around 4:30.

The rest of the evening consisted of us doing nothing, more or less, with me formatting and reinstalling XP on her PC and getting it on the network, and her doing some baking.  We didn’t get to bed until around 10, which is late for us, but even with that, I still feel more awake and energetic than I have in I don’t know how long.

That’s good, too, as I was worried I was gonna be tired, a problem that would compound itself this week, as I have 2 hockey games to watch, both of which are later than normal.

Oh, and go Wings!

Unfinished Business

I’m so excited that I’m almost quivering.  Twelve hours to go… plus another several weeks, hopefully, until its all over with for the year.  And I have a real sense of cautious optimism.  But, then again, when haven’t I come spring time?  Well, ok, I was more pessimistic in the late 80’s and early 90’s, but c’mon – that was a much different Red Wing team than what exists now.  In fact, it was a different team last year as well.  This year’s team is better, though you wouldn’t know it by listening to all the pundits around the hockey news world.

Of course, the national perception of the Wings is no different than it has been in recent years heading into the playoffs – these Wings are too small, too vulnerable and too heavily based on finesse play.

Forget the nagging fact that the Wings were remarkably close to winning the Western Conference Finals last year against Anaheim, who went on to win the Cup.

Forget the nagging fact that late in Game 5, with the series tied at 2 games apiece, the Wings were leading when a questionable penalty was called on them, resulting in a power play that the Ducks capitalized on, sending the game into OT, where the Ducks ultimately won the game.

Forget the nagging fact that in Game 6 of that series, the Wings were down 4-1 in the 3rd period, and managed to claw their way back to being down by only 1 goal, which preceded one of the most intense offensive attacks I’ve ever seen in hockey or any other sport for that matter.  Not knowing any better, you would have thought the ice was, in fact, heavily slanted toward the Ducks’ goalie.  Those Wings were close.  Incredibly close.

And forget the nagging fact that this seasons’ Wings team is better.

Now, I’m not saying there’s any injustice in the result of last year’s Playoff run.  No, bad calls are made, great attacks are stymied and great teams are made to appear meek.  That’s hockey.  That’s life.  What I’m saying is that last year, the exact same things were being said about the Wings as are being said now – they’re too old, too soft and too small.  All that bullshit rhetoric stopped once the Wings reached the Western Conference Finals last Spring.  But its April, so its time for it to begin once again.