Terminal Velocity
Over the past few weeks it looks like the pace of my lifestyle has been ramping up significantly. Apart from the brisk competitive fencing schedule this spring, the office gnomes have conspired to keep me adversely busy in recent times. Between these two factors alone my free time levels have plummeted as well as depressing the energy levels with which to fill up whatever free time I do have left over.
The playoffs for Lord Stanley's Cup are in full swing and this is turning out to be the decompression mode of choice. Each of the series have interesting elements and twists and the actual games themselves are awfully entertaining. It has been a couple of seasons since I felt cheated when I knew that I was going to miss a game due to other activities.
I've also been diligently going to the club to keep my skills honed for the next tournament. My mileage varies, but I do so enjoy the sport even after all these years. If I could manage a little more consistency in my performance, it would be icing on the cake. With one, maybe two more tournaments ahead of me, this particular aspect may have to wait until next season.
Now that the weather has dried up a bit, I've even gotten back into some of the yardwork that sorely needs attention. First there is the grass. Frequent rain makes it difficult for a guy with a reel mower to do his duty faithfully. High, mature grass is harder to cut. At least with just one pass. Compound that with a blade that could probably use some sharpening and you've got a cocktail for a hard afternoon's work. I did manage to reap the harvest a couple of days ago (fearing more rain this week), and even dropped it off at the local hardware store to get it honed up. That should make the rest of the summer easier to deal with.
The other bit of yardwork is the garden. I got a bit of a late start to it last year and had a heck of a time finding tomato plants when I finally got around to it. This year, I hit it on the mark. I could have even cheated a bit because we've had a rather warmer spring than normal but the nurseries didn't have a complete stock until about a week ago. On top of the oregano which somehow managed to survive the winter uncovered, I bought many of the usual suspects: thyme, rosemary, sage, basil, tomato, parsley. Then I went a little nuts and bought a couple of pepper plants (green and red bell) and a little quartet of romaine lettuce. It is an experiment to see if I can kill these plants off or not. I actually have serious doubts about the lettuce considering the number of varmints traipsing around the area. Still, I am going to try.
Speaking of varmints, captain_squid and piratelemur made the list when they introduced me to Guitar Hero for the PS2. I was hanging out with them and some other piratey folk and we spent a large part of the afternoon winding the time away playing this game. To say this game is fun is an understatement and since rocking out, privately or otherwise, is pretty universal across any demographic you can think of, this game would appeal to anyone. The only thing that irritated me about the game was that I didn't own it. It would have been even more irritating if I hadn't a pile of tax refund money lying around to act as a salve.
And this brings us to the present, bleeding into the future and at the pace only seems to keep accelerating like body in freefall. I am looking towards our sectional championships in Iowa City this weekend followed by the annual trip up to the Boundary Waters. I'll then have just enough time to sleep before I drive to Des Moines for a tournament down there and then a rafting trip in Wisconsin the week after that. After that... well, maybe I can finally fit in some sailing.
The playoffs for Lord Stanley's Cup are in full swing and this is turning out to be the decompression mode of choice. Each of the series have interesting elements and twists and the actual games themselves are awfully entertaining. It has been a couple of seasons since I felt cheated when I knew that I was going to miss a game due to other activities.
I've also been diligently going to the club to keep my skills honed for the next tournament. My mileage varies, but I do so enjoy the sport even after all these years. If I could manage a little more consistency in my performance, it would be icing on the cake. With one, maybe two more tournaments ahead of me, this particular aspect may have to wait until next season.
Now that the weather has dried up a bit, I've even gotten back into some of the yardwork that sorely needs attention. First there is the grass. Frequent rain makes it difficult for a guy with a reel mower to do his duty faithfully. High, mature grass is harder to cut. At least with just one pass. Compound that with a blade that could probably use some sharpening and you've got a cocktail for a hard afternoon's work. I did manage to reap the harvest a couple of days ago (fearing more rain this week), and even dropped it off at the local hardware store to get it honed up. That should make the rest of the summer easier to deal with.
The other bit of yardwork is the garden. I got a bit of a late start to it last year and had a heck of a time finding tomato plants when I finally got around to it. This year, I hit it on the mark. I could have even cheated a bit because we've had a rather warmer spring than normal but the nurseries didn't have a complete stock until about a week ago. On top of the oregano which somehow managed to survive the winter uncovered, I bought many of the usual suspects: thyme, rosemary, sage, basil, tomato, parsley. Then I went a little nuts and bought a couple of pepper plants (green and red bell) and a little quartet of romaine lettuce. It is an experiment to see if I can kill these plants off or not. I actually have serious doubts about the lettuce considering the number of varmints traipsing around the area. Still, I am going to try.
Speaking of varmints, captain_squid and piratelemur made the list when they introduced me to Guitar Hero for the PS2. I was hanging out with them and some other piratey folk and we spent a large part of the afternoon winding the time away playing this game. To say this game is fun is an understatement and since rocking out, privately or otherwise, is pretty universal across any demographic you can think of, this game would appeal to anyone. The only thing that irritated me about the game was that I didn't own it. It would have been even more irritating if I hadn't a pile of tax refund money lying around to act as a salve.
And this brings us to the present, bleeding into the future and at the pace only seems to keep accelerating like body in freefall. I am looking towards our sectional championships in Iowa City this weekend followed by the annual trip up to the Boundary Waters. I'll then have just enough time to sleep before I drive to Des Moines for a tournament down there and then a rafting trip in Wisconsin the week after that. After that... well, maybe I can finally fit in some sailing.