so yeah, an entry
June 26, 2009 9:24 am
Hi.
Otto finished second grade in one piece. Hooray! His teacher gave me a gift card to Wegmans for helping out during the year. BEST TEACHER EVAR. He had a physical yesterday; the doctor proclaimed him to be in great health. He weighs 59 pounds and is 51.5″ tall - according to the CDC charts, he’s pretty much exactly 50th percentile for both (though I may be reading them wrong). He starts CAMP AWESOME on Monday and is really looking forward to it.
We’ve got a bout on the 4th of July, and then the B travel team (of which I am a member) is going to Utica the weekend after that. My knees will be powder by the middle of July (though I did borrow someone’s knee gaskets for last night’s practice and they are lovely and I immediately ordered a pair for myself). The place we’re practicing doesn’t seem to have air conditioning so we’re all buckets of sweat by the time practice is over (it does, however, have a pool, so maybe on Sundays we can go swimming afterwards).
Work is, well, work. Residental real estate (lender, buyer and seller), a few divorce cases, a few wills. The usual.
recovery
June 10, 2009 11:29 am
So Otto got a boatload of presents, his most favorite of which seems to be the flip flops I got for him at the dollar store. “THANK YOU SO MUCH, MOMMY!” I friggin’ hate flip flops. It went against everything I stand for me to go out and buy them for him. I must like the kid or something.
He’s all super very excited about school being done. Ten more days. Then it’s six weeks of Camp Awesome, and a week of Bowling Camp. The weather finally started being nice enough that he can sleep out on the sleeping porch off his room. The setup out there is awesome – we put our old queen-sized mattress out there, so he has TONS of room to stretch out. I’m jealous.
The only bad thing about it is that right now there aren’t any shades or blinds on the windows. While this isn’t a problem from a modesty standpoint (he’s not tall enough that you can see anything), it is a problem because it’s very light out at night and we can’t get the porch dark enough so that the kid can get to bed at a reasonable hour. (The porch faces east, but the early morning sun doesn’t seem to bug him.) So, we’ll have to invest in some room darkening shades.
I bought a hammock a week and a half ago or so and while I’ve only gotten to use it once or twice (stupid ten degrees cooler than it’s supposed to be weather), it’s very, very, very nice. Just sit in it with a book or my iPod and relax.
it’s that time of year again
June 9, 2009 4:12 pm
miscellany
June 5, 2009 12:02 pm
Ok, here’s an entry.
Things have been plugging along pretty well. Otto is going to turn eight (HOLY COW) and finish second grade (WTF?) this month. I took him to the barber earlier this week to get him a crew cut for the summer; his hair is so flippin’ weird (double cowlick? No discernable part?) that I just decided “cut it all off and start over.” He wasn’t too sure at first but now he seems to like it.
This morning while waiting for the bus, he asked me about my industrial piercing. He said he would never get his ear pierced, but wouldn’t rule out a tattoo. He also wants to (temporarily) color his hair “purple, or blue, or green, or red.”
He only has about two and a half weeks of school left, and then he starts summer camp. Six weeks of running around outside, going to movies, going to Chuck E Cheese, going to the beach. The hours are essentially the same as when he’s in school, so it fits with my work schedule perfectly. I love the town where I live!
Derby is still going, of course. We’re getting ready for our next bout, June 20th at the Dome Arena. Tickets will be available from www.rocderby.com probably by the start of next week. My leg is still giving me a few issues but it’s mostly only when I first start skating – once I’m warmed up, I’m fine. We’re doing more endurance-y type things – last night we had to skate continuously for ten minutes – five minutes clockwise (aka opposite direction) and five minutes counterclockwise. Our coach said “try to aim for between 40 and 50 laps.”
My total? 51. Yay me!
The Scion is still treating me well; getting great gas mileage (about 35 mpg).
HOLY CRAP TOMORROW’S JUNE
May 31, 2009 12:30 pm
I’ve got a kid who’s going to have a birthday soon! Yaigh! I have to get that organized or something.
wahoo?
May 22, 2009 8:53 am
So let’s see. We all survived the first home bout wahoo, we had to TURN PEOPLE AWAY AT THE DOOR WE WERE SO SOLD OUT wahoo, it’s Memorial Day Weekend wahoo, I can start wearing white pants again wahoo, a bunch of people from derby are going go-karting tonight wahoo, I started watching Arrested Development and it’s pretty funny wahoo, summer’s coming up wahoo.
so, that first home bout.
May 17, 2009 4:36 pm
So I was thinking “gee, I wonder how many people will show up….I wonder if Roller Derby will fly here in Rochester….”
Read the rest of this entry »
oh MAN THAT WAS CRAZY CLOSE HOLKY F-WORD.
May 10, 2009 12:30 am
Final score: RCRD 62, ACRD 57. Jeezly crow I don’t ever want to have a game that close again.
Picture if you will - four seconds on the clock. We still have to do a full jam. Their jammer is in the penalty box. Basically, our jammer has to get through the pack clean and IMMEDIATELY call it off. If she doesn’t get lead jammer, we have to go the full two minutes, their jammer can come in after her minute penalty and (theoretically) get five points and win the game.
So. Shockin’ Audrey is our jammer. She doesn’t get through clean. We start freaking out.
BUT.
She gets a minor penalty for something. This is her fourth minor penalty, so she has to go to the penalty box.
In WFTDA 3.1 rules (with which we were playing, WFTDA 4.0 rules haven’t officially taken effect yet), when you have a jammerless jam, the jam is over. So the game ended, and we WON WAHOO YEAH WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
what’s in a name?
May 8, 2009 10:15 pm
So the Social Security people came out with their list of the most popular baby names. Otto’s real name has been in the top 20 since 1880, but I don’t really know of anyone else who’s named that.
(My own name is in the 500’s, though in 1986 it was at 32.)
the place is big, too, so you can skate around for a long time
May 5, 2009 10:02 am
For the rest of the summer on Mondays, we have practices at the Genesee Valley Sports Complex. This is the place we practiced last summer, so it was a nice little bit of “oh, gee, wow, look how far we’ve come since then.”
It’s sport court, which we haven’t skated on since our time at Total Sports Experience (the place with the elevated court). It took a while to get used to again, and this one spot on my back started aching again, like it did last year, but I really like skating on it. I felt faster. This is where OUR MAY 16 BOUT IS GOING TO BE GET YOUR TICKETS AT WWW.ROCDERBY.COM.
Anyway.
so, indeed
April 27, 2009 8:29 pm
Back in 1984, Rochester celebrated its sesquicentennial - 150 years since its formation. We’re now at 175 years. Besides the fact that I feel very very old now, I wondered why none of the advertising for this anniversary had a name like “sesquicentennial”, so I looked it up.
It would be either “demisemiseptcentennial” or “quartoseptcentennial”.
Hm, no wonder they didn’t use it.
now a work story
April 21, 2009 7:08 pm
one of the things I have to do when working on a refinance is send the payoff checks to the mortgage companies. One file I recently had involved paying off two mortgages to the same bank (whose name rhymes with “Crank of Lamerica”). They were going to exactly the same address, so I put both of them in the same Federal Express package on March 30, to be received on March 31.
About April 4 or so, we get a call from the borrower - only their second mortgage with Crank of Lamerica showed a zero balance; the first mortgage had not been paid off. My boss calls CoL; they do not have any evidence of the check for the first mortgage payoff. We have to send them another check.
Because of interest, the dollar amount to pay off a mortgage goes up every day by a certain amount. Because this first mortgage was so large, the per diem interest was about $50.00. Since the mortgage was now being paid about six days later than originally planned, we had to come up with another $300 or so. My boss asked if the extra interest could be waived; he was told “no”.
So grumbling, we send out the second check.
Yesterday, in the mail, I get an envelope from Crank of Lamerica.
It is the first check, with a note saying something like “we are returning this check because the account has been paid in full.”
The face of the check has three stamps on it. Two of them say something like “Received April 8, 2009″ (or whatever date it was).
The third stamp says “Received March 31, 2009″.
I hate Crank of Lamerica.
we were 20 miles away from a Sonic AND I DIDN’T REALIZE IT ARRRRRRRGGHHHHHHHH
April 20, 2009 11:57 am
So we had our Akron bout. I was originally going to go to sell merchandise, but the head of merchandise didn’t bring any.
So, I ended up being bench manager!
I had to keep track of which lineup was out on the track, which lineup was supposed to be next, who was in the penalty box (if a player is in the penalty box at the start of the jam, you don’t put that player in the new lineup out there), where the helmet covers were.
The first few jams were a major mess, but once I got the hang of it, I was fine. It helped that there was a lot of space at our bench, so I could easily walk down the line, yelling “LINEUP 8 IS ON THE FLOOR, LINEUP 9 IS IN THE CHAIRS!” The chairs were marked with each player’s position, so I could go down the line and see that our next lineup was all there and ready to go (unless they were already in the current lineup). I really enjoyed doing it, and people came up to me afterwards telling me that I really kept things under control so they didn’t have to worry about it, so they could concentrate on the game.
And the result? We thoroughly creamed them, of course. 117-84.
Victory si teh wonderful.
Our next bout is May 9, in Syracuse. I’ve told our coach I’d be happy to bench manage again, we’ll see if that happens.
and we will all go down together
April 14, 2009 11:58 am
So the weather’s been nice the last few days, so Otto and I have been going to the park behind the Wegmans near our house and skating. He’s getting pretty good at it. (Mr. Whitney: “Well, he’s got a good teacher.” Awwwwww.)
The park was originally created with a playground area for the little ones, but it’s turned into a place for the Sullen Angry Teens to Hang Out and Deface. (Otto, yesterday: “Mom, what’s F-U-C-K?” Me: “It’s a bad word.” Otto: “It’s written on the slide there.” Sigh.)
Backstory: Getting Otto up in the morning is an exercise in futility. His alarm goes off at 7:00; he’ll lie in bed with the BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP going until I get up and turn it off. Then begins the “Okay, you need to get up and get dressed and be downstairs by 7:30″ stating/begging/pleading/cajoling/yelling. (To be fair, I was the same way when I was younger. Still am, more or less.) He usually ends up coming downstairs any time between 7:35 and 7:45.
Anyway, last night while I was at the Knitting Guild meeting, Mr. Whitney and Otto went out to Toys R Us and Otto got a metric ton of Bakugan stuff. (All you need to know about Bakugan is that it’s this kid thing that SEEMINGLY EVERY CHILD IN SECOND GRADE has.)
So this morning, his alarm goes off. A few minutes later, I realize that it’s been turned off. A few minutes after that, I hear Mr. Whitney go downstairs and say something in a surprised voice. Figuring that the cat has probably thrown up on something and/or gotten into my knitting, I get out of bed to see what’s going on.
It’s 7:05. Otto is DRESSED and DOWNSTAIRS, playing with his Bakugan.
FLABBERGASTED IS I.
My next thought was “Okay, a metric ton of Bakugan stuff gets him out of bed early. If we buy him a metric ton of Bakugan every night, how many days can we get of him getting up promptly before we go bankrupt?”
(I’m only kidding a little.)
I never realized…
April 10, 2009 11:22 pm
that there is an actual First Name Alphabet. I use it when I spell out my last name except I say “R as in Robert” instead of “Roger”. Probably because the former is my Dad’s name.
Sometimes I really hate spelling my last name. It’s not that difficult, people! It’s spelled exactly the way it sounds! But then I get “Freemeffer” and “Freesmer” and “Freeman” and “Freakmonster” and “Freezemiser” and so on and so forth.
ok the snow can stop ANY TIME NOW
April 8, 2009 11:28 am
So, practice went pretty well yesterday. It took a few laps to get used to my new wheels but I like them a lot. I am also adjusting the way I do my crossovers, so I don’t put all my weight on my left leg repeatedly. We did an abbreviated version of the speed/endurance drill we usually do, and I was able to keep up for it. My leg wasn’t OW OW OW I CAN’T DO THIS OW OW, it was sort of the “I am aware that my leg exists” ache with which I can deal.
Then I fell over someone during a scrimmage and landed on my shoulder. Oops.
and things happen, yes they do
April 7, 2009 10:35 am
Oh dear, it’s been a while. My apologies.
The physical therapist didn’t think it was sciatica; she thought it was tendonitis in my hamstring. So I’ve been doing all the stretches and the like and it feels a lot better; yesterday she gave me a tentative green light to get back on skates. (I’m not to overdo it.) Fine by me; my new wheels showed up yesterday so I am all THUNDERCATS ARE GO! They are Sure Grip Fugitives – gray for my pusher wheels (they go on the left side [the inside] of both skates) and red for the outside wheels. We’ll see how they go. I also switched my toe stops –the one on my left skate was all worn down; the one on my right was barely touched. Hm, think I need to even it up a little?
The Scion is working well. Haven’t been calling it Ted Nelson lately; that doesn’t really roll off the tongue that easily. One of the things that is very neat is that you can customize the message that appears on the radio screen when you turn it on; right now it says “BLARF”.
So we got snow this morning. WTF? Sigh. Snow sucks. I hate snow. Especially in APRIL. Stupid Rochester. Otto’s bummed too because he can’t skate. (I will probably need to take him to a few open skate weekends at Horizon.)
Beyond that, not much else is new.
longy entry
March 26, 2009 11:28 am
So the long national nightmare of the car is *almost* over. We were supposed to get Ted Nelson last week, but for some completely bizarre and unknown reason, the port in Newark (where our car is) was CLOSED FOR THE ENTIRE WEEK. To make up for it, our dealer guy lent us an xD to use (so we could return the rental). It’s an automatic and has a fancier radio, but it’s essentially what we’re getting. It’s nice; I like it.
Surprisingly enough, the most hassle-free part of this whole thing was getting reimbursed by the other insurance company for the rental car. I faxed them the receipt, figured it would be this whole knock-down, drag-out fest, and then about four days later, the check arrived. Nice.
Mr. Whitney and I are going to Buffalo on Saturday; he’s got a tournament he’s bowling in and I figured I’d go, support him for a game or two and then go to the Galleria. There’s also a QCRG bout that evening, so I’m hooking up with derby chicks later and going to that.
So, as to derby. Hm. I made the travel team to Akron (but more on that in a minute). We now have an official, official official official practicing spot at Horizon Fun FX, and we’re going to have some bouts there as well (MAY 16 EVERYONE). Wahoo!
On the down side, my sciatica which started up when I was pregnant with Otto has come back with a vengeance in the last few months. It’s my left leg, which, when you’re skating counter-clockwise, takes most of the weight when you go on turns. I grinned and bore it as much as I could until finally, this past Tuesday, when I had to drop out of the slower pace line a few times because it hurt so much, I finally bit the bullet and made an appointment with my doctor.
I was worried he’d say something like “Derby? WTF?! You’re too old for that/it’s too dangerous/you need to stop.” He didn’t even bat an eye. He was glad, actually, that I was doing something athletic.
So, long story even longer, I start physical therapy next week, twice a week for a month. He also said I should take a few weeks off skates. (And here returns Akron.) He said I could wait until after that bout, but I realized if I do that, I wouldn’t be able to skate at our first home bout (MAY 16 EVERYONE). I’d rather skate at our first home bout (MAY 16 EVERYONE) than at Akron, so I dropped out of the travel team. I’ll be selling merchandise, though, so anyone who’s in the Akron, Ohio area who reads this – stop by and say hi.
Otto is, as to be expected, Otto. I ended up giving him these skates on Tuesday. It was a nice evening, Mr. Whitney was cleaning his car, Otto went into the garage and put on all his pads anyway, I figured why not. He skated a little bit Tuesday and yesterday, and I was impressed with how quickly he picked it up. He asked me to draw big “X”s on the driveway and he’d skate between them. Of course, the derby in me is coming out – he falls and I say “up! up! up in three seconds!” and telling him that when he stands up from a fall, he needs to stand on his toe stop, not on his wheels.
A BIG BOX OF UPDATES FOR YOU
March 14, 2009 7:28 pm
at some point in the upcoming week, our new automobile will arrive: a 2009 Scion xD. I believe we will call it “Ted Nelson”, with the caveat that you have to pronounce it like Tom Servo does in the movie: “Teddddddddd NELSON!”
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Still trying to decide if a license plate that says “HOTCHKA” is in our future.
Today was the local St. Patrick’s Day parade; us derby chicks marched/skated in it. It was hella fun except that we had to wait about two hours before our group got to march; we were kinda near the end. Everyone seemed to think we were fantastic and we got lots of drunken guys cheering at us; what’s not to love?
The best part was afterwards when we went to this one bar. I got carded and when the guy looked at my ID, he said “you’re kidding, right?” I LOVE YOU, SECURITY GUY WHO DOESN’T THINK I’M 35.
So I suppose I should go downstairs and take my outdoor wheels off my skates before tomorrow’s practice BUT I DO NOT WANNA. Man, I’m lazy.
Otto’s got a bowling tournament tomorrow; hope he does well.
updates and the like
March 6, 2009 11:12 pm
so Mr. Whitney, the poor guy, has spent the last few days researching cars (yes, even though he spent most of last year doing it as well, what with the Red Menace and the Green Machine and all that).
It looks like the Vibe will be totaled - the total repairs are probably going to be more than 75% of the car’s value. Whee. So now it comes down to: do we buy a brand new car or a slightly used car? What kind do we get? What do we do? ARGH ARGH BLAH THIS TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY SUCKS.
I’ve been driving a rental for the last few days - a 2008 Chevy Cobalt. It’s okay - basic Transportation Box - but it’s weird driving an automatic after years of stick driving.
So that’s about it from here.