What? No Post? No Problem!

It's almost been the whole day and I haven't even posted yet! I must be slipping! But then again, probably not - I was pretty busy today. Then there was the obligatory weeb smurfing, general inattentiveness and so on.

The oldest son was not feeling that great yesterday so I figured he probably wouldn't want to go to his swimming lessons today. Called the Y and turns out they won't let him, or anyone, swim today. Lessons start up again in a few weeks, so I could go play hockey! Yea! Called up Shane and confirmed they were playing, and made it out there. Nice bunch of guys and it was good game. I'm only saying that because I got 2 goals, but whatever. First goal was a "shoveling the trash through the 5 hole" in front of the net. I was surprised that it squeaked in, but a goal is a goal. The second one was a sweet sweet point shot about 2' (60 cm) off the ice - over the pad, under the glove. Shane ended up being late because he got touched in a rear-ending. A car smacked the car behind him, which touched his bumper. Still made it in time for about two-thirds of the game. Gonna try and go out again next week (no swimming - I'm playing hockey).

Next I had some hockey-related errands to run. Took my old helmet to Herm's, but they didn't want it. I carried pucks in it a few times, so there are some black marks inside. I'm gonna try and clean it up and see if they'll take it. It is in good shape, just a little too big. If not, whatever. I'll let my hair get more bushy and there we go.

Next went to Hockey World (seriously - that's what it is called). Looked around at some new stuff, but I'll detail that in another post. I want to record that information separately. Very productive.

Next stop, the evil scourge Best Buy. The wife indicated that another season of The Simpson's is out. And since we don't have it, I got right on that. Found a copy of the Animatrix for $8, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown was specially priced ($6 bucks off) and I couldn't find "The Office" (US version) season 1 anywhere. My wife and I got Season 2 from her brother for Christmas. We have both been enjoying it, but it has been a slow process - kind of like Sponge Bob Squarepants. Then, horror of horrors, my ignorant stumbling into the "Special Buys" section brought me in contact with... So aweful ('full-of-awe", not the pejorative) it was - $64, taunting me. I had no choice - I swore a silent oath to obtain it when I found it. It was, and remains, "The Seven Samurai" by Akira Kurosawa. 207 black-and-white minutes of Criterion Special edition, in Japanese with English subtitles. I never thought I'd see it, but now I have it in my hot little hands. My indulgence of the season - CURSE YOU BEST BUY! HOW DARE YOU TEMPT ME WITH GOODS I WANT TO PURCHASE! You'd think it was their purpose - to take my money! I must avoid it now, before they put the credit-card readers at the entrance...

Headed back to Sport Chek to see about a new helmet for the youngest. His bike helmet isn't really fitting him well, and it he has a slightly bigger head (circumference!) than his brother. In fact they are very close in size so a new helmet is needed. They pointed out at the store that they should probably have a hockey helmet for skating because bike helmets are one-impact. Not only that, many rinks won't let kids on without a helmet, and no bike helmets. I suppose that snowboarding helmets (or skateboarding helmets) would probably be okay as well, but hockey helmets come with cages. So bought one bike helmet and two hockey helmets and brought them home.

At home, tried the helmets on the boys and they were completely wrong. Way too big - missed something at the store I guess. Looking at three different pieces of information for each helmet, missed the size in inches (which matched the measurements I had in-hand). Eventually got them into the store before closing and found some that actually fit. I was not surprised that they needed two different brands of helmet because their heads are different shapes. I've found some makes are completely unsafe for me, leaving big gaps at some points while crushing my head at others. The other disappointing (to the pocket book) is that the helmets that fit are at the top-end of the size (helmets at the maximum stops). So when they grow just a little, say next week, I'll have to get new ones. Oh well - they'll be much safer now and I can put the little name-tag stickers on their foreheads. Of the helmets - I can tell them apart ordinarily.

Finally, here I am, writing about it all. All this time I've been spending writing at the computer got me wanting more music, so I had to start ripping more of my CDs. No cheap rips for me - high quality VBR with rates between 192 and 256 bps. Nothing like shrinking your mp3 player by inflating your files. Must move on - there is a game on that I want watch a part of...