Rough Intro to the Honda Center
The Kings lose 4-3 after dominating the first 2 periods and giving up completely in the third.

I had a great intro to the Honda Center in other ways, too. Someone had thrown up on our seats and they had never cleaned it up. They did send someone to clean it up as well as she could, but we still used one of the hideous orange Ducks shirts we got for free to protect us from the parts that they didn't cover up with a towel or completely clean. The lady who cleaned it did the best they could, but there's only so much you can do without being able to get the seat really wet.

And, in the 3rd period when the Ducks scored their third goal (first of the period), the girl behind me spilled the scalding hot chocolate (that was too hot for her to drink) on my head. Fabulous. Really helped my migraine... My head still feels hot and hurts where the hot chocolate hit my scalp. The jersey was mostly spared and I only got a little on my jeans, but my first experience at the Honda Center wasn't any better than my last experience at a Ducks game (then the Mighty Ducks). Hopefully, next time I see the Ducks play I won't get anything spilled on me!

I also hope that the Kings will play all three periods tomorrow night at their home opener at Staples Center. I missed Renee's chocolate party tonight to see the Kings lose. I can't believe they had the nerve to lose when I skipped CHOCOLATE for them! Very rude!

On top of all that, the Yankees totally bombed tonight. They'd better pull their act together soon! Let's go YANKEES!!!

In good news, it seems almost everyone is having a baby now. Four cousins, my only friend in Germany, and my best female friend are all pregnant now! My friend in Germany is due in a couple weeks, the rest have a lot more of their pregnancy left than that, but it's all so very exciting! Congratulations to all of you expectant mothers out there.

Labels: baseball, hockey, Kings, NHL, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 12:21 AM | 0 meows

Is it me, or is the college football ranking still a mess?
As a Penn State fan, I couldn't understand how a team that lost only one game last year, didn't lose all their key players, and finished in 3rd could be pre-ranked at 19th. But, that's not nearly as bad as being ranked below a team that lost their only game this season after winning our only game. The fact that Ohio State can be first when they didn't beat the team they played much more than we beat Akron in better weather when the team they played is supposedly not as good as Akron blows my mind even more. I really wish there were a non-biased way for them to rank. It's always been a popularity contest, but this is insane.

The Yankees have been doing well, which is great! Being 8 games above Boston this late in the season when it looks like the Angels won't make the playoffs either is wonderful! I just hope it all ends this way so we don't have to face Boston or the Angels in the playoffs - we'll be set!

Labels: baseball, Penn State, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 10:01 PM | 1 meows

Through rain, sleet... but NOT slurry coating
Yesterday, when we got home from the show we saw, I discovered that our mail man is too lazy to deliver mail to our short (for those of you who haven't seen my street, it's only about 7 houses on each side and this is southern California, they're not far apart) street when the street couldn't be driven on, since it was being slurry coated. It's not like my neighborhood in Pennsylvania where there were no sidewalks. We have sidewalks - he could have gotten to the mailboxes. He just chose not to. I guess I should know better than to expect him to - no one walks in southern California. Fortunately, we had nothing urgent going out in the mail, but it was still annoying.

In good news, our bathroom project is finally done (just needs wallpaper we haven't picked yet). The mirrors are really cool and everything is great. Now that they want their final payment, perhaps they'll address David's issues with the discount they thought was fair since he had to completely re-do the heated floor and the money he saved them because he was smart enough to a. know that the installer messed up and b. fix it before the tile was put in, since they would have had to tear everything out and re-do it if he hadn't.

Our built-in cabinets upstairs are being installed this weekend, which is cool. The LCD screen that'll go on the wall in that room won't be bought for years, but at least the surrounding wall will look great. :-)

We got our pre-season tickets for the Kings today. Hockey starts next month!!! Yippee! And, the Yankees are doing great for the end of the season and it looks like the playoffs will be set up pretty well for them. Perhaps this will finally be the year that the Yankees win the world series this millennium! GO YANKEES!

Labels: baseball, hockey, life, NHL, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 7:40 PM | 0 meows

Bummed about that game...
Man, how depressing it was to watch the Oilers tonight after Carolina scored their second goal. It seemed after the second (or was it the third?) goal against them all the fight left them and they just stopped trying. It was so sad to see and I'm not even an Oilers fan. I really feel for the Oilers fans out there. It's so sad to see a team doing that.

Going into the series, I thought the Oilers would win in 7. I'm still hoping they can do that, but as history has shown, goalies are the key to the Stanley Cup playoffs and the finals make that even more critical. To lose Roloson like they did at the end of game one was a horrible blow. I thought they'd come back and win today at least because they'd be upset about losing him and need to show him they could still do well...

Apparently, that wasn't meant to be. I'll tell you, though... They had some shots that really looked like they were going to be goals. Ward made some amazing saves for Carolina. Add that to all the penalty minutes for Edmonton and the outcome isn't that surprising, in spite of the shots on goal being almost even.

OLN showed one more time how pathetic they are at showing hockey games. When the 4th goal was scored, I saw it and thought that was the last nail in Edmonton's coffin for the night. Then, I saw replay after replay and was sure that it was no goal. There was a distinct kicking motion. Nothing the guys at OLN said or showed told me any different. The score went up and I screamed at the TV. I actually thought that OLN had done something right when they disagreed with the call. It wasn't til later that OLN showed the shot from above, where you could see that after the distinct kicking motion the puck hit his stick before going into the goal, making it legal. They could have saved me a lot of yelling at the screen if they'd just shown the right angle in the first place. Everyone who loves hockey knows that for something like that 9 times out of 10 the best angle is from above the goal... *argh!*

In better news, construction on the master bath did begin today. The whole demo was done today, so they're still on schedule (for now). They'd allowed two days for demo that took less than one.

I also got to talk to Meli today! I hadn't talked to her in ages. I've gotten updates from Tom, but I really missed talking to Melissa! I got a good book recommendation, caught up on things with her, gave her my updates... It was so wonderful to talk to her. I do have to apologize, since I was watching the game at the same time and got distracted from time to time, but I really wanted to talk to Melissa and I didn't want to be in bed super late like I was Monday night with the hockey game and the Yankees game. Of course, once I got off the phone I realized that the Yankees game that's on ESPN is tomorrow night, not tonight's... Oh well, it's still better to get to bed at a more reasonable hour, right?

Here's hoping that the Yankees kill the Red Sox tomorrow and the Oilers make one hell of a comeback starting on Saturday when the Stanley Cup finals move to NBC! I want to be able to enjoy a good 5 games on NBC, not just the two remaining of Carolina can sweep Edmonton. Come on, Edmonton - make it a great series!

Labels: baseball, hockey, life, NHL, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 10:09 PM | 0 meows

Damned contractors!
Well, the contractors had given David a 3-hour window when they'd show up today (though he had only told me they'd be there at noon today). And what's happening with our bathroom? You guessed it - nothing! Did they show up? No. Did they call at 2:00 when they were still in Cypress and no where near done with their project so they could clearly not be on time? No. They called at 3:15 when it was already very clear that they were late.

Needless to say, David has had a great time wasting time and yelling at the idiots. He understands that things happen, but not to get a call is ridiculous - especially on the first day when they know damned well he has to be there, since he has to give them the key for the lock box! Contractors are so annoying!

At least we know these guys do good work in spite of the few "small problems" encountered with dealing with contractors, since David's talked to people who used them and we've seen pictures. It's just really sad that common courtesy can't even be followed in a professional situation these days.

My head hurts, so I'm really looking forward to going home and resting tonight. I got back the gym last night for the first time doing weights since my fall and (surprisingly) I hurt my wrists, knee, ankle, and toe a bit from time to time while I was at the gym, but I had no lasting bad effects after icing my wrist and knee last night. Some muscle soreness today, but nothing bad, since we had to stick with light weights so we didn't kill my joints. Good to get back to the gym on a regular basis, though.

Perhaps it's better not to have a bathroom project start on 6/6/6, but I was really looking forward to it starting. And, of course, David had already taken off the door to the little room with the toilet in our master bathroom in anticipation of the demo today, so I can't even use that tonight. I know it's just one unnecessary night when it's going to be this way for over 2 months, but it's still annoying.

Here's hoping the Yankees can kill the Red Sox again tonight. Staying ahead of them is always a good thing!

Labels: baseball, life, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 4:35 PM | 0 meows

What a day to love sports!
First of all, as a Yankees fan, it was great to see how they killed the Red Sox today. All of this with many of our best players injured. We have some amazing young talent up now!

Then, of course, the main game of the night - the Stanley Cup Finals game one. Edmonton came on a lot stronger than I expected, since they had so much time to rest (and get rusty) before the first game of this series. Of course, with Carolina having a lot of time to rest, too, perhaps that changed the way things started.

Edmonton broke their 6-0 record when leading after the first in the playoffs tonight, since they completely fell apart in the third and ended up losing the game 5-4. Game one didn't end the way I wanted, but with Edmonton being so well rested, they did really well. And at least it was an exciting game!

It's funny, since a friend of mine and I were disagreeing about the finals just last night. He was saying that the finals would be the worst in ages and I was saying I thought it would be a great finals. Game one was definitely a point for my side. If the rest of the series is anything like this game, it's going to be a fabulous fight to the finish in 7 games. I still think Edmonton will come out on top, but what a series it will be!

I love the Stanley Cup Finals! Even without a team I love in them, it's a lot of fun! I hope the Oilers win, since Canada deserves to get the cup back. Only one more game on OLN and then the finals move to NBC. Yippee! I can't wait to be done with OLN for the season!

In other news, our master bathroom construction (or, rather, the demo of our current bathroom) starts tomorrow! Yippee! Two months (probably more, really) of using the other bathroom and having our clothes in the other bedroom. But, the end result will be worth it. Wish we could skip to that. The new bathroom and closet will be wonderful!

Labels: baseball, hockey, life, NHL, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 11:05 PM | 0 meows

Happy Passover
I know it's technically not Passover till sundown (and lately that's been really late), but I wanted to wish everyone a happy Passover anyway. David and I get to see his parents, Renee's family, and (of course) the girls tonight. Always fun to get together with everyone!

I've been getting a lot done on a big project at work, which has really been interesting. I've learned a lot about our office and I get to re-organize which is always fun for me. I love organizing!

We're finally starting to put together our wedding album. I can't believe it took me so long to work on it, but we've been so busy with house projects. I'm really excited to be working on it, though, and can't wait to see the finished product.

The Yankees actually won their last two games, which is good, since yesterday was their home opener. I hope they keep it up. I know they often start out pretty low in the standings and that there are a ton of baseball games every year, but every time they do this it makes me a little nervous about the season. I'm sure they're just getting used to each other still, though and that they'll be fine. GO YANKEES!

Labels: baseball, holiday, life, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 4:27 PM | 0 meows

Thank goodness for Billy Joel!
Unfortunately, it's been a long time since I've entered Staples Center without dreading the outcome of the night. Billy Joel allowed me to go to Staples Center and just have fun! I have to thank him for that. Although I've always loved Billy Joel and think he's always been amazing in concert, this concert was the best yet! I hope he does other tours so I can enjoy him again. If you're interested in seeing my review, check out my Kat Views blog.

The Kings really disappointed me yet again last night and it's getting pretty old. I'm ready to concentrate on baseball season and watch my Yankees as they play the Angels in the "Los Angeles" Angels home opener tonight.

GO YANKEES!!!

Labels: baseball, concert, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 4:37 PM | 0 meows

Let's go Yankees!
Here's to the shortest start in Barry Zito's career - given to him by my Yankees who had scored seven runs already in the top of the 2nd with only one out.

Thank goodness! I was worried when I saw that Johnson (who I wish the Yankees had dumped in the off season) was pitching today. I'm feeling a bit better about the first game.

I feel sorry for the Dodgers fans (especially those who were at the first home game of the season), but at least the Dodgers made a bit of a comeback in the bottom of the 8th and 9th and only lost by one run.

Happy opening day of baseball, again!

Labels: baseball, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 8:14 PM | 0 meows

Baseball Opening Day
I had a weekend of icky migraines, but at least the Kings won on Saturday and I managed to get rid of my migraine enough to enjoy it! I saw the doctor today and got a couple new prescriptions I'll fill on my way home from the chiropractor. I'm glad that it worked out better for everyone that we not go to the Kings game tonight. David had to go home to let the kitties out after being locked up to have the stone done on our fireplace - I can't wait to see it when I get home, though the grout won't be done till tomorrow.

I wanted to wish everyone a happy opening day for baseball season! Here's hoping the Yankees do well on opening day. The Red Sox already won, which is a bummer, but it's a long season.

GO YANKEES!!!

GO KINGS GO!!!

Labels: baseball, hockey, Kings, life, NHL, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 4:09 PM | 0 meows

Dude (& Dudette) Weekend 2006
David and I spent this past weekend in Las Vegas, as we normally do for President's Day weekend (except for last year when we'd just moved and had the wedding planning and house stuff keeping us busy). However, this weekend wasn't the normal weekend in Las Vegas for us.

First, it wasn't Valentine's Day weekend as it was the last few times we went to Las Vegas on President's Day weekend.

More importantly, this year our friend Tom (and his wife Meli) organized Dude Weekend 2006. I went to hang out with Melissa, since I really miss her and I figured she'd be alone on the weekend otherwise. As it turns out, Kate was there, too, so it was three women and 6 guys. Mostly Penn Stater's.

It was really cool to meet some of Tom's friends we hadn't met yet (especially Ken, who's also very into hockey, even though it's the Rangers, and who shares my love of the Yankees) and spend some more time with their friends we had already met. It was also cool to hang out with Meli's friend Tricia for the little bit she was there (she was at a bike race most of the weekend supporting a friend).

The weekend was so much fun! We played some poker (Texas Hold-em, which seems to be one of the only things out there lately - I feel so much more with the in crowd in that one now, I'd watched it, but never played Texas Hold-em before). We bowled (which most of us hadn't done in years). I won one of the three rounds we bowled and was never the worst, so I saw that as an amazing feat in a group that was 4 guys, Meli, and me. :-) Poor Melissa was clearly having wrist issues - especially at the end and her scores dropped down as a result. I hope she's feeling okay now, she seemed fine yesterday. We also played Hoopla (by the makers of Cranium), which was a ton of fun. I love the games they make! The guys played Playstation 2 & our Nintendogs (Earl & Beavis) got together. They got along really well and I was able to give Beavis an accessory they hadn't found yet on one of their walks, which was cool. I figured there would be nothing I'd have found that they hadn't, since they've had their Nintendogs & NDS longer than I have, but that wasn't the case. :-)

I'm behind on the Olympics now, of course, but fortunately most of the sports on this past weekend were either sports I don't really care about (other than the results) like cross country skiing & ice dancing and things that I love in the early - mid games (like hockey and curling), so I'm already done with everything that happened before today. This is good, since I've got a nail appointment tomorrow, 700 Sundays on Wednesday, a chiropractor's appointment on Thursday, and a concert on Friday. I won't get to see any Olympics (or anything else, for that matter) on Wednesday or Friday, so it's going to be a while before I can see the news still. Fortunately, David keeps me up on anything major happening.

For those of you at Dude Weekend 2006, it was great to hang out with you. Thanks for letting me join you, even though I'm not a dude. Of course, when I mentioned this to Tom earlier today, he asked who I was kidding and pointed out that I'm a dude with breasts. With my love of sports, poker & other card games (I learned to count playing Blackjack and learned other card games from my dad growing up), etc., I guess I see his point on that one and I'm honored to be included. :-) I also want to thank you all (especially Holtz, who clearly had to bite his tongue yesterday when he read some news online) for not giving away anything about the Olympics to me. I think it's good that none of us are as into the Winter Olympics as we are the Summer Olympics. It would have been much more difficult to wait...

Thank you Tom & Melissa for all the work that went into this weekend. David and I had a great time and I know everyone else did, too! We hope to see you again soon and we're glad you haven't moved too far away yet! Stay close in Vegas. We'll definitely be out there for Frozen Fury 2006 and will surely see you before then.

Of course, no post during the Olympics would be complete without this...

GO USA!

Labels: baseball, hockey, Las Vegas, life, NHL, Olympics, party, Penn State, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 9:53 PM | 0 meows

First Rent Preview I Saw in Theatres
This past weekend, I finally got to see the Rent preview on the big screen. Okay, so it was only the second weekend it was showing in theatres and it was only the second movie I saw where it was even a remote possibility that I'd get to see the preview. Finally still applies. As soon as I saw New York come on the screen, I turned to David and said, "This could be it!" I was so excited. I was even more excited when I heard the first "Seasons of Love" chord. I was bouncing in my seat. After the preview (which is by far the longest movie preview I've seen in a while), there was some applause and one guy said "Yeah" behind me. I keep telling David that I'm not the only one anxiously awaiting it's release on November 11th, but I'm not sure he gets it yet.

This coming weekend, when we see Batman Begins in IMAX (it was still too crowded last weekend), I know I won't get to see the Rent preview, since they only show IMAX previews. I may just have to sneak into another movie for the previews if the timing works out okay. I saw a lot of things in the preview on the big screen that I missed in the tiny version on the computer. The more I read and see about this show, the more excited I am. Let the skeptics assume it'll be horrible and that they'll ruin the show we love. The original cast members are happy with it and I don't see how anyone who wasn't in that cast could feel closer to the show than they do - they knew Jonathan Larson and worked with him. I also feel a lot better reading the Rent blog and seeing that Chris Columbus (director) is a renthead just like many of us. :-)

Okay, enough rambling about Rent. The wedding is coming along great - probably printing the menus for the rehearsal dinner this weekend. One more thing to cross off the seemingly endless list. I can't believe that Melissa and Tom's wedding is only 2 1/2 weeks away. So exciting. I can't wait for the amazing Vegas trip and their wedding. Plus, I'll finally get to see Mystere. The oldest Cirque show and I still haven't gotten to it. Then, we'll need to see the two newer ones, though by then I'm sure they'll have opened something else we want to see.

Apparently, the NHL is going to be back in order soon. We'll miss Frozen Fury this year, since it's supposed to be the same day as our wedding, but missing that one year really isn't a big deal. We'd much rather miss that than the first home game, which we'll be in town for, since it should be right after we get back from our honeymoon. :-) It'll be nice to see hockey again.

I think that's it for updates now, though I'm hoping the Yankees start to play soon. They're making me nervous!

Labels: baseball, hockey, life, movies, NHL, shows, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 3:06 PM | 0 meows

Busy busy...
It's been a while...

We've been very busy dealing with the insurance people. The good news is - they found my car. The bad news? Their definition of "good condition" and mine are not exactly the same thing... But, I'm getting my beautiful car back (should be by next Thursday - crossing our fingers)! Then, I get to drive the car pool for a month or so to make up for my friend Kathy driving this whole month. But, it'll be great to have my car back.

David has been dealing with meeting up with all the different adjusters and dealing with them on the phone. He's so wonderful about that! Tomorrow, he has to meet the idiot who's in charge of our stuff (the biggest claim). Hopefully, she'll be more impressive in person than she's been on the phone so far.

There is still a lot to buy, but we're working on it little by little.

We've also been working on trying to find a wedding location. There are so many locations that seem to fit what we're looking for in southern California, but the fact that we're having a very small wedding does eliminate some of them from the list. So many places have large minimums on weekends. It makes sense, but it's still a bummer. Oh well, it limits the search some, which is definitely a good thing.

Okay, enough rambling - back to watching the Yankees. I really hope they pull this out. I'm amazed that the series has gone this way. I knew Boston would be tough, but once we won the first three, I thought we were okay... GO YANKEES!!!

Labels: baseball, life, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 6:28 PM | 0 meows

Gilmore Girls returns!!
Gilmore Girls returned last night! For those of you who haven't seen it, Gilmore Girls is the story of a girl (Rory) with the mom (Lorelei) we all wish we had growing up. They have one of those great relationships where they can talk about anything and their fast-paced banter always makes me laugh. I'm so glad to have them back, even though we'll be gone for a week and away from all TV starting Friday. There is so much more to do in NYC than spend time with a TV. There will be friends & family to hang out with, musicals and plays to see, Yankees games (okay, just one) to attend, ...

I've been playing with downloads for my new phone a lot, too. I know, some people think they're just for making phone calls, but that's so boring! There are so many ringers available now that even have the words. So cool!

I'm releasing my first book into the wild with BookCrossing later today. I have a few prepared to take with me to realease in NYC, too. It's such a fun idea to track books you let go to see where they travel later in life. If you read a lot, you should definitely check out BookCrossing in addition to Page Turner's Anonymous, which I recommended in an earlier post. So many fun ways to amuse ourselves without spending a lot of money. Definitely a good thing.

Labels: baseball, books, life, reading, TV, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 1:51 PM | 0 meows

Joey?
Now that the end of the day is approaching, I find myself thinking about tonight's first episode of Joey. Will it be worth watching? Initially, when I heard about the idea, I have to say that I thought it would never work. It's not like Joey is the favorite friend, or the smartest, or... But, when I heard Paulo Costanzo (of 40 Days and 40 Nights, Road Trip, etc.) had joined the cast, I started to hope. When I saw the first ad (during the Olympics, of course, since I almost never watch live TV otherwise) for it, I laughed. I don't think it can be as good as Friends, but I do think that this could be a show worth the 20 minutes a week I'd spend to watch it (unlike Father of the Pride, which has already been removed from my season pass list in Tivo). Is anyone else crossing their fingers with me? Or does no one really care? With Will & Grace going downhill in the last couple seasons, I could really use a sit com that I really enjoy. If you watch it, enjoy and let me know your thoughts.

On a totally separate issue - my Yankees have been scaring me lately, but the last couple games have made me think that my boys are back in town. Apparently, they thought they deserved a break from playing and were just too comfortable at the top of the league. Now that Boston has closed in on them, they're starting to play again. I just hope that the team playing today is the team that shows up for the playoffs. The winning team is definitely the one I recognize. GO YANKEES!!!

Labels: baseball, TV, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 2:38 PM | 0 meows