Lately, I've been pretty excited about things that are coming up. Of course, one of them will be the Chicago trip. I've never been on an airplane heading past Las Vegas, though we did some traveling when I was very young when my dad served in the Navy. But I haven't been on an airplane vacation wise. I wouldn't necessariy count the 50 minute flight to Vegas, since its primary excuse is to avoid traffic on the 91 and 15. A little more than two weeks to go.

The other thing I'm excited about is the return of hockey, my beloved sport. After a full year cancelled due to an owners lockout, the game is back on the ice, with a whole new game. The new salary cap system has changed the economics of the game, and I'm excited about my Los Angeles Kings. We've resigned Luc Robitaille, traded for Jeremy Roenick, signed Pavol Demitra, resigned Alexander Frolov to a long term deal, and also signed Valeri Bure (that's right, Full House's Candace Cameron-Bure's husband.) We've lost Ziggy Palffy, but his lost doesn't take any excitement away from the game. I've already got my free pre-season tickets against the Ducks on September 17th. It'll be an exciting year.

The return to hockey has also prompted me to lace up the skates again. That's right, I've decided to return to league play roller hockey. I've rejoined some old teammates and we will be starting sometime in October at the Anaheim Hockey Club. I haven't played since 2002 at the old Gretzky Center in Irvine. So I've got a lot of conditioning and practicing to do. I also got to get new equipment and new skates. I'm probably gonna get new skates, new gloves, and a new bag. I've had my gloves for about 12 years so that needs to change. My current bag doesn't have a shoulder strap since it ripped off. My skates are currently uncomfortable. So I'm about to get these bad boys:



















These are the Nike Quest Hi Ho Silver. Yeah the name is pretty funny, but its practially the best boot out there. Funny enough, these skates actually run pretty big, so I can actually fit the biggest junior size. What's even better, it's a lot cheaper than adult sizes. I couldn't believe it myself when I tried these on...that I can actually fit a junior size. I wear a fitted size 8 shoe. With this skate, I can fit a size 5.5. Adult price, $400. Junior size, $200. Not too shabby huh?? Most hockey skates usually run about 1 to 2 sizes smaller than your normal foot. I'm just suprised these Nike skates ran really big, almost 3 sizes smaller than your normal shoe size. What's best, they're Nike's! I hope to get these sometime in the next week or so.

Here's a couple of action shots:















Yeah, that's iddy biddy me taking the face-off.

















Me, no where near the puck.

Maybe I'll have more action shots to post up this fall. Stay tuned!!