A Link Dump (in Slightly Snazzier Form)

Getting caught up and back into the swing now that we're coming up on Training Camp, so thought I'd make sure my cross-linking was up to date.

Since I'm doing my officiating comments and content over here this season, I'll be going live with the first of my weekly posts on the topic September first, looking at this summer's NHL R&D Camp.

Recent Posts:

• Capitals Outsider: 
• Careful Planning Ensures DCPS Beautification Day is Mascot-Disaster Free!
• The Lesser-Known Caps in the System (1/2) 
• Puck 'N Hockey:
• Matt Hendricks: Star Power - Confirmed!

In "real life" changes, I'm now working full time at a single rink (as opposed to splitting my hours between two), which has been part of the lag in getting things settled here at RtC.  We're going into playoffs this week for the summer adult leagues, hence why I'm using September 1 as a nice round starting point for the officiating posts.

Two Days, Two Months, Same Difference, Right?

Right after my declaration of intent to get regular posts up and running, I proceeded to get promoted at one of the rinks I work for.  They asked me to take over most of the administration for the adult rec leagues, with a new season starting in roughly two weeks.

My entire online life (and ability to watch hockey) vanished like the dinosaurs.

Things I've Done/Things in the Works - 20 January Edition

This will probably be a semi-regular feature, as this blog evolves.  A combination of link-spam for the articles I've published in the last week on other blogs, known upcoming posts on this blog, and general bits and pieces from my life.


Things I've Done:

My articles with Something's Bruin have started to go up.  They're titled "The Ref's POV," and should be publishing on a biweekly basis.  The second goes live sometime today: The Blame Game

Other accomplishments of the week include surviving the Congressional something-or-other without freezing to death (I worked 18 games in 3 days, although only 12 were tournament games), and spending half an hour serving as FAQ for an entire section of the bleachers at Caps practice during my break on Monday.

I always find those experiences disconcerting, because I'm fairly certain that I don't know all that much (my default Caps game co-attendee always laughs when I say that, because I'm how she keeps up on the hockey world, but there are levels of knowledge).

To follow up on that experience, last night I had a woman stick her head into my scorebox at 10PM wanting details on Caps practices.  Apparently I exude 411 vibes?  It's a valid theory - I've been asked for directions by random people on the street in almost every city and country I've visited (the two exceptions being Japan and Egypt).

Things in the Works:

A "Support/Disprove" post regarding hockey parents, which will serve as a follow up to my initial rambling assessment.  As is often the case, more research has proved elements on both sides of the argument.

Something involving another hockey blog, which I'll say more about once the first entry publishes.

Tournament Time! Hockey Parents, Referees, No Sleep Tonight

Congressional Something-or-Other Tournament is happening this weekend at one of the rinks I work at, so I'm logging a ridiculous number of extra hours at the scorekeeping gig.  It's very different than my normal work, and not just because it's a tournament.  I've only peripherally worked with kids games before (and, surprisingly, only ever as a ref).  We've got several levels of play represented here, from B to AA-Travel (there's a team that came down from Toronto - 10 hours in a bus), as well as age ranges (Squirt/Atom to Bantam), so I've been getting a good look at different aspects/elements of hockey parents and kids teams.

Based upon 24 hours of extensive observation, I've come to some broad and generalized conclusions.  Brace yourselves.

Hit the Road. It Hit Back. Story of My Life.

Took a quick road trip up to Boston over the weekend for a Winter Classic viewing party and some socializing.  I had a blast, as I expected to, and had the surprisingly genuine pleasure of watching the game with a Pens fan who shares my approach to hockey fandom (Hockey First, Team Second, and remember that everyone's human, eh?).

While up in New England, I also caught the Manchester Monarchs/Providence Bruins game, and I'm shooting to have a write-up on the reffing involved done in the next few days for Something's Bruin (no idea if they'll use it, but if they don't, expect it to show up over here).

Today I played catch-up from the 20 hours of driving and 16 hours of drinking that were necessitated by the event (or, let's be honest, 16 hours of socializing and about 2 hours of drinking - my liver's just not that above-average).  Tomorrow I'm back to classes (winter session First Responder training, because I don't know how to take time off, apparently), and also back to the rink.

There's been a management shift over the holiday break regarding the scorekeepers that makes me a bit uncomfortable, but we'll see how things shake out.  I'm currently in the process of making it clear just how much they failed to train me initially, and the problems that Pointstreak manifests when one is dealing with a sketchy internet connection, so I may or may not suddenly be the new supervisor's least favorite person in a hurry.  Worst case, I end up swapping the majority of my hours to my other rink if things don't go well, but that would be a shame.

It's 2011, everyone.  Welcome back to the grind!