42km/26.2miles - again?! why? (marathon musings)

I realized that I never did follow up on my post about marathon training last year . Together with my earlier musings this year in regards to Lessons learned post I put up, I feel that it might be a good idea to do follow up....

So, in short I ran the marathon after 6 months of training. Like a lot of people will say, the race didn't go according to plan. I woke up to thunderstorms, delayed start, pouring rain like you wouldn't believe and then more delayed start. When the start happened the sun was up and the course was pretty much without shade, it was 96% humidity and unusually hot for being in December (80F/26C) in the shade. I had a sneaky feeling at 10 miles when I wanted to use the restroom to pee that I was in trouble since there was no way I really needed that. Especially since I know that one of the signs to flash "you're in dehydration" mode, is the feeling that I need to pee. Strange, yet there it is.

I still felt pretty ok about it all when I saw a runner getting taken off the course at mile 12 (medics pulled them off). And then the runner who almost ran into a tree. And then runner who was all gray in their face, walking slowly and then threw up next to me. At that point I started to think "what is the most important thing for me?". And it wasn't about finishing on a good time, it was finishing strong. So, I started walking a little and took it slow and steady.

I picked up the pace again closer to the finish line, once I hit 22 miles I felt safe to run "as fast as I could to get in goal" and did my last mile as the fastest mile of the whole race. Happiness for me! I crossed the finish line, got my participation medal, snapped a few photos with it and went to the hydration and food stance. Called my parents and talked about the race, still feeling pretty good about it all. And then the strangest thing happened when I met with my partner (in hindsight I should've seen it coming but I am good at ignoring certain things) - I started crying and mumbling that I hadn't done a good race. There were so many emotions all at once. Not only tired, but "not as tired as I thought I would be" (since I hadn't pushed myself as much since I was scared of the dehydration and belly cramps). Not as fast as I had hoped, which I had told myself all alone was never going to be the goal - "first race is to finish, not for time".

It all felt a bit better after the cry, the hugs and "you're being silly sweetie, you did great", and of course the glorious shower once I got home. And hydration fluids and a little bit of food. And more rest.

All in all, looking at the scale and the weighing before carbo loading, before the race and after the race - I lost over 6 pounds in water weight that day. I was seriously nervous about how little fluids I had left in my body (pee colour I've never seen before...) but I kept up with hydration two more days and then I had my annual physical. (Wouldn't recommend it but there is was.) My labs were excellent by the way, go me and hydration!

So, why do I bring this up now? Well, because I have gone and signed up for another marathon to do soon. And this time around my anxiety (competitiveness) is ramping up and I have to face a few uncomfortable truths.

I've always detested "the second time". I had to do my driver's license test twice and I was way more nervous the second time than the first. The first was "you just go and try", the second was "if you fail now you really aren't good". In short, stakes were/are higher the repeat time than the first. In theory, I should be faster this second time than my first race. But that's in theory, not a given. And it is a chance I will fail at that.

I got a good eye opener the other week when talking to a colleague about the training and how the running is going when they asked; "who are you running for? It doesn't sound like you look forward to this". And I thought to myself, "hm, that's an interesting thing.. I am way more nervous about this time around. I want to make a better time than last year, and I would like to feel better afterwards. But if I don't make a better time, how will I feel?". I answered them that this is one of the reasons I wanted to do it a second time, to prove to myself that I can do it "when I know what I am getting myself into and see if I can repeat what I did".

Funny enough (?), until I was on the course last year I never would've thought that I couldn't finish. All my training was still while never having doubt. I did my training program, kept at it and chafing and all, I still kept slogging along. It was while I was on the course, during the race, that I realized that it could go pear shaped at any time. That my training had been good, but at that point there were a lot of choices that I could make that would make things very difficult and that it wasn't at all clear that I would finish just because I had started (after all, more than 500 people of the 3000 who started didn't finish). And that knowledge - the doubt and the knowledge on how fickle the weather and life can be - is more prevalent this time around.

It's one of the things I have realized more and more the older I get, a trait (skill?) I have that isn't in everyone - the ability of shutting down and just keep going. Sometimes it's a good trait, sometimes it would've been better to stop and leave - accept that the situation is horrid and there's nothing you can do and you need to get out. I'm not saying it's all great to "persevere", sometimes it's plain dumb and I have certainly a few experiences that I would do differently if they came about today.

However, there are times - like when you are pushing yourself to jog 26.2 miles in a go - that the ability of not questioning "why am I doing this" but focusing on "one more mile, then I'll take a sip of water" is a good trait to have. The other benefit for me doing this is that I have to get over myself mentally - especially when I do my long runs. I have to get my brain in gear and think "I can do this". Somewhere during the run my brain will start spewing negative thoughts, not only doubt but "you're too slow", "you're too fat to do this", "why do you keep trying", "start walking and turn around to go home" etc. I've mentioned before, and it's probably all too obvious in my previous posts, that I am a champion in having these less than supportive self esteem thoughts. The good thing though is that it's really hard for my brain to do those thoughts after a long run when the body and brain is drenched in dopamine and my muscles have used up adrenalin and I lay panting on the floor hurting everywhere.

And I'm smart enough to remember that feeling when my brain comes knocking saying "hey, you're on mile 4, let's go home instead of doing another 12 miles". That's when the stubbornness kicks in and states "keep going, it'll be over soon enough and you will feel great afterwards".

All in all, what I wanted to say with this post is:
If you wanted to do a marathon - go ahead and train! Give yourself at least 6 months. I had done 6 half marathons before, and would recommend at least one half marathon before a full so you know how you feel after 2hours of jogging/running.
It's a lot of mental training to keep training and to keep running. And it gives you a different perspective on a lot of things. And if you can do it without music (which I recommend), it's an amazing time to be alone with your thoughts and really tap into feeling your body, breathing and everything.
And I really hope that my second marathon race will feel at least as good as the first. Fingers crossed!


TLDR: I hope I feel happy after my second marathon than my first. It was a lot of emotions and expectations in one day. And I want to prove to myself I can repeat this training and race a second time since now I know what I can expect from the race - and it's going to be tough. Mainly overcoming my own expectations and shortcomings.

Vacation is good for you (until you come back...)

I had quite the start of the new year. A couple of day, well to be honest weeks, of vacations and trips. I didn't realise that some stuff has been draining me. It took going to the Hockey Town of the World to realize that I really needed to get away and sleep. Oh and how I slept. Glorious 10 hours of sleep a night. At least for a few days when the vacation started. Like I said, it took me awhile to realize what my brain has been telling me for a little bit.

Also, I can totally recommend going to Toronto in February. You get blues skies, sun and then a little bit later snow and ice. Perfect for long walks, both in the PATH and outside, and relaxing in coffee shops and microbreweries.

Not to mention, going to Hockey Hall of Fame and Air Canada Center for some games with the lovely Maple Leafs.

If only one didn't get so behind on work while being away.... it's crunch time for some dead lines. I'm dreaming away and sharing some photos. Until next time! (Got some thoughts on mentoring and networking for starters.)

a lab is like a NHL team?

I know, it's a little out there. And it might not be super accurate but the last week I've thought a little more about "what makes a good player/PI/postdoc" and "what makes a good team". It's mostly in the context of some moving a person with specific skills from one environment to another environment and hoping they will thrive in this new place. You know, like it happens all the time in science when a graduate student moves to a post-doc, or a player changes team and moves up to the NHL.

I'd admit, I started really thinking about this yesterday when I read this piece in ESPN and coupled it with what happened with Vegas Knights' player Sjipatjov/Shipachyov (depending on which transliteration you use, Swedish or English). Side note, if you are interested here is the official guide to "how to" from Russia to English from IIHF.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand. Just because someone is a shiny star in one place, doesn't mean that they are going to be shiny stars in a different environment. In certain things, this is obvious. In other situations, maybe not as obvious. And then there is that additional factor of "the majority of people want to feel comfortable" in order to do a stellar job performance.

The first time I encountered the discussion in a lab setting was as a graduate student with a predominantly homogeneous department. Let's say 90% was speaking fluent Swedish. It obviously meant that any visiting scholar was going to be either "changing the entire conversation into English" or "feel a little isolated when everyone was chatting away in their own language".

I've mentioned it before, it might not be an issue to keep all work presentations and seminars in English (common language) - however the small talk between people in the lab is usually feeling slightly contrived if it is in "not your native tongue when you are in majority in the group" (like being 9 native Swedish people and 1 foreigner). Yet, and I've given this spiel before - A LOT of communication and work productivity is lost if some members of the team doesn't pick up on the general chat that goes on. Of course, as I am not outside of the lab - I've missed that a lot of people nowadays wear headphones all the time so maybe this isn't as much of an issue that I had back in the days?

Moving to the United States, this became more diverse and complicated. The majority of the people at my institute were native English speakers. And we had a lot of international post-docs in the labs. A lot of people gathered and got to know each other, some more lucky (?) than others with having a peer group who spoke their native language and getting a taste of home. I still would argue though that if you are in a group of say 6-10 people, I think it is fairly rude to start chatting away in your own language if there is only one or two people who don't speak the language. (Yes, I've been there. As a person who has chosen to live with a person who doesn't speak my native language but hanging out with people who do.... I try and translate and keep him in the conversation since I find it extremely rude and excluding and these situations have decreased.)

It's different if you go off on your own with a small exclusive group, say three swedes go for dinner. There is no reason why we would speak English with each other but rather bond with our native tongue, exploring all the feelings that come from speaking your own language with all the nuances.

I digress from the point of the article. Most often when you talk about language issues and NHL there is a Russian somewhere in there. Why? Because other European countries have more English and do use the same alphabet as English. There have been a few examples of Russian players who come to the United States and start playing for NHL and not knowing any English at all. They have been great at playing hockey, stars of KHL but moving to NHL is a whole different game.

Some teams solve this a little different. There are stories about "host families" who speak Russian and English and take care of the 20-22 year old man who now is living in a completely different world. Others might have "another Russian" on the team and expecting them to guide the new guy into a more American style, interpret and then hopefully get the English going. The rumors around Shipachyov has been that he moved from Russia to Las Vegas as a 30year old who doesn't speak English, no host family or other Russian player on the team and that this didn't work out for him. There is probably a lot of other things, but a lot has been mentioned about this language/cultural barrier and that the owner and manager team might not have done as much as the could.

It's like when some new post-doc move to the new lab from another country and doesn't speak English that well or almost at all. They were good in their old environment, star in the lab, had good publications yet coming to the new lab entails learning where everything is, how things are done, where to go in the city for regular chores etc. Not always so easy and some institutions have a post-doc coordinator or an academic office to help with relocation issues. I know that I benefited enormously from the one that was there to welcome me. I don't know how I would've gotten a bank account, found a car, gotten a driver license and all those other stuff that I fixed the first two weeks of settling in the United States after getting off the plane with two suitcases.

All of this ranting is because I'm trying to avoid being rude. You see, I have a bad flaw when certain people start complaining about "they don't speak English all the time". It sometimes happens when people say similar things about Swedish, although it's easier making excuses for not knowing Swedish (small language, pretty difficult to pronounce), but I'm not as annoyed by it, my bad. My complaint is mainly these people say something to the point that they feel excluded in their own country and that "we need to put our foot down about this". (If you read the ESPN article linked in the beginning, look up Mr Seguin's comment. That's pretty much right on point where my irritation happens.) The unfair thing I want to ask them is "so how many languages do you speak?" Or sometimes, when I'm feel really self-important I'd say "come back when you've learned another language". Partly to point out that it isn't the easiest thing in the world to master a new language. Partly to bring to their attention that maybe, just maybe, they could pick up some new words themselves and make an effort to know something else that their native language?

I realize that it's a lot to ask from a hockey player to pick up Russian when playing in the NHL. And really, if they should pick up something it would be Swedish (109 players in NHL are Swedish, 66 Russian and 44 Czech) but hey - I'm just pointing out that there could be a humility about the fact that even if they are playing in the NHL, maybe that is because NHL is the best league in the world and people want to play there.

Similar to when people want to work in a world famous international lab. Regardless of the lab being in the USA or in France or in Holland, the people want to go there and work with the best of the best in that field. And maybe, just maybe, we have to accept that it means that it will be a little uncomfortable and that everyone, not just the people who move there, will have to make some changes and adapt to make everyone feel welcome and produce the best of their ability?

(Disclaimer; if you read this far - thanks. I personally think that learning the language of your new country is a must if you want to fit in. If my lab had been in France, I would have to speak more French, just as a lot of people moving to Sweden have to learn the language of 10 million people to make themselves more comfortable. What really pissed me off with Mr Seguin's comment was the fact that he lived in Switzerland for a year playing there. While he was there? He didn't speak any of the four languages given as an opportunity but kept on in his American English. So..... I would've hoped that he could've had just a little more understanding and humility than what he explains in the article as "putting down the foot and speak English since we are in the US". I just would've liked him to think that maybe his team mates in Switzerland would have liked to keep talking French/German on the ice rather than accommodating to him. Alas, I have prejudice and doubt he ever went there in his head. Mean me.)

Visit to Smashville - Price anchored

If you read this blog, or come here by the way of twitter, there's a chance you've picked up that I am somewhat interested in hockey. I had an opportunity this last weekend to go to Nashville to hang out in the "the other city" where the Stanley Cup Finals are played this year (it's Pittsburgh and Nashville).

Funny enough, driving there I listened to a pod cast explaining the "anchoring phenomena" - an economic term and discussion that tries to explain that we people subconsciously compare things to others. If you are choosing if something is expensive or cheap, you automatically think about something first and then comparing it to that. The researchers had tried it with glasses of wine and after mentioning different prices, they asked their subjects to guess how much the glass of wine were that they were drinking. If the researchers had mentioned a higher number, the likelihood was that the subjects quoted a higher price. They were, as the report said, price anchored.

I got the perfect experiment set up when we arrived in Nashville. You see, the tickets online for the game (game three) were starting at $1300. While I am by no means poor, I don't have that much money to put on a team that isn't even my main one. I mean, it's my adopted thirdish one (the first American if you don't count Red Wings, which to be honest I have considered dumping since they ended up in the Atlantic with Leafs. I can't even try rooting for another team in Leafs division) but $2500 is more than living expenses for a month and to pay that for two tickets for one game?

Alas, what happened when we got to the arena? Scalpers. And were they trying to sell tickets. I knew I was in trouble when I managed to get someone down from $800 to $700 in two minutes flat. Plus that they said "I'll walk you to the doors and make sure the tickets work and you get in". I even considered it. "It's not that much, it's HALF of what I saw on the website". Well, little hind brain kicked in a second later with "it's still A LOT OF MONEY (and it isn't your team)". I even entertained the question "but how do I pay for the ticket, I have no cash and I doubt that the scalper takes credit card?".

Then I shook my head, for real shook my head as to banish the silly notion that I could afford the tickets (compared it to REAL life stuff rather than $1300) and walked my merry way to a good restaurant to have a nice meal, watch the first period. And then, when the game went to second period, take a stroll down town to the pedestrian bridge over the river.

It was on the bridge I stood, taking a photo of Järnkrok's shirt, when the cheer from every bar in the area and Broadway went to the skies. Predators had scored and made it an even game! Time to find a roof top party and watch the third period with all the lovely, happy, fun fans.

watching hockey outside in the summer breeze - what can be better?!

Preds won and they whole city erupted into joy and glee. It was truly a lifetime experience and I am very very happy I went there. Even if hotel rooms turned out to be pretty pricey. And the restaurant and the bar wasn't the cheapest. Although, if I anchor on the hockey ticket price - I still made a deal on my stay since it was cheaper than the cheapest ticket. Win-Win indeed :)

Broadway before the game

mini cup cakes like the Stanley Cup

Cat fish shirts, it's the South ;)

post half-marathon confession

So the half marathon is over. It didn't go as I'd thought, although it didn't go as bad as I let on to my friends when they congratulated me after crossing the goal line. I did better than my first half, and listened to my body so all in all - a win?!

My main issue with this race and timing? That I haven't explained that I've had two surgeries these last three months so my training schedule have been..... slightly impaired. I haven't even run longer than 10 miles the last six months. I haven't mentioned the surgeries to anyone really, I'm a little private that way. It would've made it easier to understand for some of my more competitive family, friends and coworkers. Also the main reason that I told myself not to push through the pain when it occurred after 7 miles in the race. I had set as my main goal for this race "get through the race without injuries and hopefully enjoy it".

Everything started glorious. Weather was cold but great. My microfiber towel that I have as a second layer in front of my tummy (what ever works for you to make you feel good is a smart solution) was protecting me from the strong wind gushes that got the temp down to 2C/38F. My speed the first 7 miles were excellent and on par with a PR, yet my pulse was a steady 145bpm. Alas, as I hit my stride my feet started telling me something was wrong. On top of both feet having the toes go numb, it was almost as the socks were crumbled up between the toes and the balls of the feet. I even ended taking off my shoes, only to notice that there was no issue with the real socks. (Hello plantar fasciitis nice of you to join me in the race.) And then the hip flexor began to send tingling feelings on one side....

It was really hard for me to tell the people I ran with "I'll be falling behind you and take it slow for a while - good luck with your run". Not only because I'm a proud stubborn person, but mainly because I am pretty sure I could've ran through the pain and made a better time. However, I probably would've ended up with some sort of injury and that was what I had promised not to do..... "no repeat of piriformis debacle a few years back"

After a slow 3 miles my feet decided that they were good - I will never understand how things like that just resolve while running. I plugged in my headphones and turned on the music list that I made especially for the last 3 miles. Cranked up the volume and ran fast while the rain came down. Finding the endorphins while I pushed through and finished strong.

Happy running list when wanting to run fast and nice. A lot of it is about the drums and base that touch my heart and keep me with adrenaline :)

• Jekyll&Hyde - Fiver Finger Death Punch
• Deep Six - Marilyn Manson
• Square Hammer - Ghost BC 
• I think we're alone now - The Birthday Massacre 
• Move your ass - Scooter "it's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice"
• Dot your eyes - Fiver Finger Death Punch "it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog" (also printed on my computer for inspiration when times are hard)
• You're going down - Sick Puppies
• Throne - Bring me the horizon

I had dreams about finishing under 2:15, alas - 2:24 was my final time. I'll take home that my first 10 km was a PR for me (my gps kept track) and if I would've run the 10km it would've been enough to be best 22 in my age group. Now I face the music as settling to be happy about that I had more people behind me than in front of me, and that I'm uninjured. Small mercies.

Maybe the biggest achievement is that it's my third half-marathon in four years which means I'm keeping up the fitness. I should really celebrate that more and not focus on the time and feeling like a slow poke.

NHL play offs - bracket challenge

It's Stanley Cup play off time!

If you want to sign up and play in a league with brackets - I've made a league: love of science password: canada

My precious Leafs didn't make it. And when I was digging through the comments I realized that I hadn't actually taken a picture of all of my shirts that have accumulated in my closets over the years.

For sure, my Leafsshirts are the oldest and the mostest (4). Canucks come in with two shirts - the blue one is from 1999! Then there is the Red Wings shirt I had to buy when I moved to the US and had to appease the American hockey fan in the lab ("you need to have an American team"), also at the time they had 10 swedes on the roster so it seemed appropriate. Then comes the Habs shirt - a bet that I lost. And the Predators shirt, since it seemed summery and appropriate. The yellow towel and the tshirt is from when I saw Canucks-Preds four years ago (being fairly lonesome in my blue Canucks shirt in Nashville).

As for what team I'll be rooting for since my lovely leafs are out? I'm going for Canucks in the West.

And I do think Habs might be best for the East since I've tried to go with "the team that beat my team is ok to win" (as long as it isn't Bruins. Can't root for Bruins. Ever) The overall winner? You've got to sign up for the bracket to know that :)

Oh Canada, you mighty glorious winner!

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/525729-canada-wins-sochi-2014-gold-over-sweden-in-mens-ice-hockey-three-takeaways/?photo=2 

Yes, this is a photo of the victorious Canadian men's hockey team. Look at that nice gold bling!

Yes, Canada beat Sweden in the Olympic gold medal game on Sunday.

Yes, Chall is Swedish.

Yes, this post is the result of a lost wager on the game.

Yes, this is Cath . Hi!

Chall and I made the bet right after Canada beat the US in the semi-final. I watched the final period of that game with dozens of colleagues in the lunchroom at work, and there was much cheering and high-fiving at the end. All charged up, I took to Twitter to make a bet with our gracious Swedish host.

Two days later, I got up at 3:40 am (yes, you read that right, and I know how ridiculous that is) to watch the final, thinking "well, at least if we lose, it's to Sweden. I like Sweden".

Because, really, who doesn't like Sweden?

The game wasn't half as exciting as the much closer Canada-US semi final. It wasn't anywhere near as exciting as the Canada-US women's final earlier that week, when the Canadians came back from a 2-0 deficit with five minutes left and won in overtime in one of the most exciting games of any sport I've ever followed.

No, in the men's final against Sweden, Canada were dominant, scored early, took a 3-0 lead, and never looked like losing. We celebrated at the end, of course - winning the Olympic hockey gold medal is pretty crucial to our self-identity, eh? But did I want to gloat, or to mock the losing Swedish team?

Hell no - I wanted to give them all a big hug. Especially Daniel Sedin.

And then something wonderful happened on Twitter. #HardToTrashTalkSweden started to trend in Canada; #HardToTrashTalkCanada started to trend in Sweden (they must not know about Harper). Some of my favourites are in this screen capture:

Now that's true Olympic spirit! The internet can be a wonderful place sometimes.

Take THAT, Sweden!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Additional photo from me (chall) since Canada did indeed 

win it all in the hockey - women and men. 

A truly remarkable feat! Congratulations Canada!

http://www.bu.edu/today/2014/basking-in-olympic-gold/

"transportsträcka" (transportation distance)

The Swedish word is "transportssträcka" - divided into two separate words; transport and sträcka. Transport means transport as in English. Sträcka is path/length/distance. What it really means is that the travel isn't really the meaning of the whole thing, it's just a means to an end. It's usually like the "road to work" or "the last hours before the anticipated event". No enjoyment per se but rather just passing time...

The last thing is what the word means to me today. Today the whole day will be waiting for the time to turn 6 pm central time when GAME 7 starts!

Bruins vs Leafs, at TD Garden. No one thought it would go to game 7. And even if it doesn't end the way I want it (LEAFS) I will be SO happy that they gave Bruins this much trouble :)

Let's get on with all these hours to pass now (hopefully productively too)!!

Hockey update week 9

The points of this week:

I was happy to see that I made some good picks (hello Kadri, Toronto Maple Leafs). Cath took home the victory with the most points for the week.

This made its way into the stats of the overall points...... Mod scientist is in the lead, with SugarScientist right at her heels. Lavaland and Raj are neck to neck on the bronze and Cath and Gerty have moved a little away from the "rest of the group". Maybe mostly interesting (or scary depending on where you were in the group before) is that the (former) bottom group are melding into the middle group with SBCVandy making the devider (not really decided where to go, up or down?).

I'm part of the scared corner since I was in the middle part and now mixed in with Gregg/Beth/Bob and the difference to Bam and GenRepair is small. Everything can still happen!! (I can still be last and the top 4-6 are fairly open. All it takes is two bad weeks for Mod and Sugar and two great weeks from the others and things will change pretty quickly. (Or, as I am scared of - only two bad weeks for me and Bam repeats her great picks and I'm at the bottom..... hmmm.... exciting!)

HAPPY HOCKEY WEEKS that's left! :)

Hockey update week 7

Time for the week 7 update. I might have thought it was HALFTIME but I guess that might be next week seeing that the season is ending last week of April (gasp!).

As for this glouriuos week of 7....
The chart ranks us all by our overall points, but the legend on the side is in the order we got this week.

The winners of the week were Modscientist & Lavaland with 45 points each but I think it's pretty clear that Genrepair and Gregg managed with great things as they collected 43 and 42 points resepctively (see the steep on the last one of them all on the chart - that's Gregg taking a big push to get out of the hole and Genrepair is the green, third from the bottom).

Meanwhile; Bob, Beth, Bam and myself are trying to remember that under 34 points are not going to make for happy things in this league...

Since we are doing stats, and I sort of thought this was half time I'm happy to provide information about "most averge points/week" and the spread of these points over all the weeks for each one of us.

 Average points indicate that there are indeed three groupings..... for now at least.

I love box plots, since they show clear things as distribution and average with the outliers. As is seen clearly, Gerty-Z is taking home the award for "most spread between weeks" (but I'm a happy second placer....). I might have run some anovas to see if I could find some significanly differences..... :)

I think Beth hosts next week - which ends tomorrow since I'm late with this.

As my final note; my team the Leafs might only be 6th in the conference right now, but that is since their whole DIVISION (sans one) is ahead.... I mean, Carolina is ahead on third place ONLY because they are their division leaders, not by points. Top 1,4,5,6 is from the same division.... *cough* I'm just sayin'. I'll save the comments about the new divsions until another post.

Fantasy Football League?!?!

It's almost the end of August and with that - FINALLY - comes a new season of American football. YEY for that! (I'm really not loveing the baseball season over here.... nor am I a basketball fan, although that hasn't been going on either so... And in  the football back home my team isn't doing spectacularly well either :( )

Therefore, I figured I needed to be slightly proactive and write this post about asking/begging to join in on a league. I want to play Fantasy Football with my fellow Science Bloggers as last year.... and the year before that... etc...  :)

However, I know that since many of you are on twitter (like Genrepair who were instigating a lot last time ;)  there might be something set up there, rather than through the blogs like previous years? If this is the case, and some of you nice people who hang on twitter and are going to be in a league have an opening for a person like me - I would love to join in again.

Email me or drop me a line in the comments section. please? (Yes, I might come off as slightly desperate but I really like the banter and the playing. I might even become a weekend twitterer if that would be a pre-requisite nowadays ;) .... [firewall at work]

(Yes, I can send an email to the old email-list but I figured I would do this less invasive begging first ;)

As for the NHL Fantasy I guess we will have to wait for another month or so IF the league gets a season this year...... I dare not think about yet another lock out season so for now I am ignoring that fear! And as far as people involved in the madness of ice I'm looking at you Cath, ScienceMother, Alyssa, and similar others for the ice loveing fun people :) Got to get that competition in there, even if I didn't come close to the top three last year either.

Fingers crossed!

Hockey week 17

ME!!! :) I got this week - thanks to Finnish Rinne! (Maybe a pick for you there Bob?)

Here is the new stats after week 17. I got the "fifth from the bottom" place back :) (SM and Mr E man are tied for forth from the back)

Gerty and Modscientist came in close second and third; Cath, Lava, Ricardipus and Mr E man and Bob battled about the 20 points and more... and ScientistMother and Beth tied for last place.

Personally, I hope this is the turning point for my lovely Leafs since "Monstret" aka Gustravsson in the goal did an awesome week!!! Fingers crossed for SC play offs - and before that I'm aiming to pass Gerty (since the other four are way ahead). Look out Gerty! :)

Hockey update - 14 and 15!

Week 14 - brought the winner of Modscientist, closely followed by Lava... then in following order Cath, Mr E man (good job!), ScientistMother, Gerty, myself, Ricardipus and Beth and Bob brought up the rear. As a side note, Modscientist got about twice as much points as the last one.... Congrats Modscientist!

Week 15 - Modscientist does it again! This time Gerty and Bob fought for second place. Cath, Ricardipus, Mr E man, Beth, Lava, ScientistMother were all close together whereas I decided I wanted to struggle alone at the bottom ^^ (Clearly last with 6 points to the second to last place....)

Double congrats to Modscientist!

As for the overall points, as visually seen (sorry about still not getting Numbers to work as well as I should with that poor chart) the standing is as follows:
Modscientist (587), Cath (575), Lava (572), Ricardipus (564), ScientistMother (539), Gerty (528), chall (522), Bob (515), Mr E man (507), Beth (492)

tonight's the night....

I realised today that I'm more nervous/excited about the game tonight than I actually thought. I got taunted today by a co-worker and wasn't too good about it - granted, I kept my mouth shut and didn't say anything apart from "I don't have a grey scale". Which to me mean that I either say good things or very very bad things.... and at work, that's not where I want to be - bad words that is.

So, if nothing else - please Canucks, win tonight so I can wear the nice shirt tomorrow and enjoy the happiness of celebrating the Canuck win of the Stanley Cup!

Considering my luck though, I am scared they will burn and fall in their own  home town since it would mean SO much if they did win.

A little more than an hour to game start...... oh the anticipation. In four hours, I guess I'll know if I will be a happy gal tomorrow :)

hockey fail....

I think Lava will beat me in the last and final round.... I picked too many Sharks and Lightning players compared to the competition. Fail on me not to believe in the Canucks all the way (although in fairness, I picked more TB players so it's the Bruins I didn't fully believe in).

Hm, I guess if Krejic (spelling) doesn't score and Erhoff doesn't either (since Lava has him as a double pointer) I might be able to keep my 2 point lead.... However, I think an ice cube has more likelihood of surviving in the Southern summer heat than that ;)

Go Canucks! Looking forward to the games this week.

(Will update on Conference, Hockey and Life very soon. Have fun and interesting news to share. Or, at least interesting thoughts in my book ^^ Let's go with 'sports' bar in NOLA that closes at 10 pm on a Friday led to some odd stuff ... not to mention the idea of "are you the one who can teach us stuff about bioterrorism?" hmmmm - for clarity, the latter comment was in context of an anthrax seminar and food illnesses, even prior to this EHEC outbreak in Europe at the moment. )

Moosehead

I'm not too happy about the game tonight but at least I have a Canadian beer photo (not for tonight's game since I had this one the last game night when I cringed, cried and got upset about the poorly play from those BC people). I've not found any other Canadian beer in my local store (ScientistMother, I really looked) apart from Moosehead and Molson Canadian in three various flavour and the other option would be Rye'n coke but I'm really not liking that so I doubt there will be any Canadian Club or whatever they are called in my house ;)

For now I'm settling for Philly vs Buffalo and wondering if they will go into OT or if the Sabres takes it... Fingers crossed for Canucks tonight (and I guess the Predators before that).

Soon I'll write something not sports nor Wordless Wednesday - just need to sort out a bit of pseudo stuff since it's partly work, partly professional in general.

Wordless Wednesday (OK, I might have a small problem...*)

(*too many shirts in my closet... or teams... but at least one of these was the end result of a bet... guess which :) not a fave of mine.... And the other one was just to try and adapt to being in the South... not one of my team(s) ;) the beer though, a must while watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs! My heart belongs to Canada! ... when it comes to NHL teams anyway... :D )

Wordless Wednesday (OK, some short words)

The two shirts I think I might be wearing come May :) The first one is more than 10 years old....

wordless Wednesday (a little later)

(I know, it's Thursday Friday but it is in the spirit...)

Update: it's Friday :) just didn't realise it was after midnight when I posted it.....

Hockey pool week 20

(In my Inbox earlier tonight.... " *cough* hockey pool update *cough* ") ... Thanks for the reminder Cath!! :)

So, the abysmal (hrm) I mean Wonderful week of 20 in this hockey pool sees us with Bob being the winner of the week; Woho! Lavaland coming in on a second place, Cath and Thomas sharing third (very close with 26 points), Ricardipus fifth, ScientistMother and myself barely not sharing last place with Gerty (only one point difference so.... not too far at all there).

Overall the slopes are looking better than last week.... Lavaland in a certain lead, Bob getting into second place (Ricardipus moving back a place to third). A gaggle of geese in the middle (trying out when I can use this wonderful phrase) and Thomas picking up the best slope for the week (if you look at the picture imho). Gerty and I are feeling the pressure (well, I am at least... dropping from my nice slopes in the beginning and all... hmmm.)

(and I am really terrible at making graphs in numbers.... sorry about this non-fancy one).