It's The Great Pumpkin!!!

So many things to do, so little time.

I left work at 4:30 pm today. Since the, I have been to the grocery store, washed one load of laundry, hung clothes up, washed dishes, gotten pumpkin bars cooked, made a second trip to the grocery store, and a trip to the pet store for treats with Gravity. I've also sent an email out to harass my women's team about entering the Evergreen Bonspiel.

To do: Clean the main bathroom, wash more dishes, make the frosting for the pumpkin bars, put the second load of laundry into the dryer, and try to find time to write a blog entry from this past weekend's trip to the Langley Curling Club for their Witches Broom Bonspiel.

I also have to remember to put my curling gear together, as I am a sub in the Thursday afternoon league for Andrea, and send an email to John R about picking my new curling shoes (Yah!) from Langley when he goes up for a spiel in mid November.

I am seriously contemplating having a house cleaner come by once a month to clean my bathrooms, kitchen, and dust. *whew*

Richmond Curling Club

On the way to Langley, we drove a little out of the way to stop by the Richmond Curling Club to check out the supplies. Richmond is huge compared to the Seattle Granite.

The pro shop is fairly big, lots of curling items to choose from. They also have 8 sheets - you can email or call ahead and reserve a sheet, 2 hours for $65.00. We ate a tasty lunch at their restaurant. They carried veggie burgers for our vegetarians, and also had a buffet that has pasta, salad, and ribs.

GCC Chili Contest!

After talking about it all year, Jeremy did what he said he was going to do.
He took 1st place for Best Chili in the Seattle Granite Curling Club Chili Contest. Go Jeremy!!

April won Best (and only) Vegetarian. Jeff W won most unusual (rice cakes in chili?!). And Ethan won spiciest/hottest. My digestive system is still unhappy after eating just a spoonful.

I played around with my newest iPhone application, CameraBag. While a little slow, the application is lots of fun with its Helga, Lolo, and Cinema settings.

Scavenger hunt

So for our team bonding event, they are doing a scavenger hunt at work. Here is a photo of about half of our company.

The hardest item for my group, will be to find a construction worker who will be willing to pose with 3 of us in the YMCA pose. I don't know any construction workers, do you?

On the sheet, next to Learn to Curl 1

Jeremy was instructing in the Learn to Curl 1 class this evening with Greg R and Derrick M. While the class was going on, I took a photo through the glass, and made a quick post to Facebook. I went out and practiced a couple of slides on the ice, and noticed there was a notification on my iPhone. Jill L asking "Is it worthwhile coming up, or is it too busy?" I went to the club office, called her up and told her to come on over. The wonders of social networking.

Beth C arrived shortly after the phone call. We threw a few rocks, but mostly worked on balance. I did a set of angels down the sheet and back. Jill L, her husband, and Barb the club president came out to practice for a bit. By 8 pm, we were all pretty tired. I went to change and sat on the other side of the glass and watched Jill L and Beth throw a few more rocks.

As the Learn to Curl class finished up, Sara S showed up for some Mixed Doubles practice with Jeremy. I ended up being asked to play a few ends with them. With a big sigh (like they had to twist my arm very hard), I went and changed back into my curling gear. Mixed Doubles definitely is out of my comfort zone. I'm still thinking at the Lead and second level. I'm not really into strategy yet. Too many things like balance and line of delivery to think about. Derrick had a weird bobble/really off balance delivery, but I give him props for his recovery. If a person watching had missed the bobble, they might not have realized what caused the delivery to be off.
Jeremy and Sara ended up beating us 5 to 2, through 4 ends.

My legs are tired and my bad knee is super sore. Icy hot to the rescue! Debating on whether or not to practice tomorrow, or clean house for our guest that is coming in on Friday. If I don't get to clean tomorrow, my next chance is Thursday evening. I'm helping out as an instructor for the rental on Wednesday evening. Zzzzzzz.

Friday Night Curling League Begins

Curling season is definitely here again.

It was nice to see everyone, and there were many new faces on Friday.

I talked to Jim Pirie for a few minutes in the locker room, telling him that I had been working on balance drills during the pre-season practice ice. Derrick walked in on the middle of the conversation, and I used that moment to tease him with the story about how he helped me with my balance drills (and I got bonked on the nose). I started the story, and he pretended to turn around and walk away in shame.

With our third not being available for this Friday, I was able to get Derrick to sub for out team. Joe's (Our Friday league manager) sense of humor made itself apparent as we found out who our opponents were. We were playing the Galey's...the team that Jeremy and I had played on last year. They picked up another two first years Christine and Nick.

I was very please with my take out shots, especially my last two. However, I did make a couple of really horrid shots. Derrick also gave me a couple of sweeping pointers. The advice seems to have helped my stabilization on my weak side.

Anyways, it was sad. We lost 4 to 2. Christine and Nick threw rocks, like... a couple of first years. However they managed to make their shots in the last end, sealing their victory. Sigh.
My competitive game face is on, and I can't wait until next week.

A series of unfortunate events.

After I got rear ended, a couple of Fridays ago, my week continued to be filled with misfortune.

The person who invited me to be on her team for Superleague forgot that she had soccer league on Tuesdays. Then another person bailed, leaving Beth and myself hanging. Due to our lack of experience, there really isn't anyone interested in picking us up. This is the second time Beth and I have been flaked on. Feeling really cautious about dealing with the women at the club now.

Thursday, I took my car in for an estimate to have the bumper fixed. Easy enough to do. As I tried to leave, my car battery died. As luck would have it, there was a place around the corner that had time to do a load test and verify it was the battery only and replace it.

Friday, my laptop decided to have some battery problems. Around noon, I was invited to eat with some coworkers. They joked about revoking the invitation, due to the cloud of destruction that hung around me. We ate lunch...nothing happened. However, as I tried to get into the car, the person next to us decided to pull out. She caught her side view mirror on the inside of his car door and left a black scratch.

And yet, still more curling practice.

Today was the first day I have been on the ice, since last Wednesday.

For some reason, my bad knee (ACL injury back in 1997) was bothering me. I think it was probably the change in weather/pressure. Usually when the weather changes, I'm aware of it when I wake up in the morning. It bothered me more on Thursday and Friday than it has since I first received the injury. I'm pretty sure it wasn't curling related, as I had been curling just about non stop since the ice came in.

Last night, I started reading the manual to get my Level 1 Instructor certification. I think it affected my delivery today in a good way. Over the last couple of weeks, I have found a problem trying to get my rock to the tee line. Today, I had a couple of rocks that zoomed through the house.

I think I must not have been sitting far enough back in the hack. Even with my weight distributed correctly, it was causing some funky deliveries at the women's practice a couple of weekends ago. I have to remember to keep that in my head for tomorrow.

Rear Ended

So I was rear ended about an hour ago on 405 Northbound, by exit 17.

The lady that rear ended me apologized profusely, and said it was her fault, as she was looking down at a paper for directions.

It kind of sucks that it was rainy wet. My pen was not water proof, and the ink smeared. I need to remember to keep one of those Pemco forms in my car, to remember all that needs to be filled out. All that adrenaline, how can someone remember every piece of info they need to get?

Anyways, I have her State Farm Insurance policy number, and her agent name. I called and the first person said I didn't have enough information. The second time I called, I had an agent from my insurance company on the line, and they filed a claim for me.