Speaking of Hairstyles....

Growing up, my baby sitter and next door neighbor Judy Sarnecky had the most beautiful straight, blond hair that hung down to the middle of her back. All my life, I have wanted long straight hair. As I mentioned in my previous Farrah post, I've been cursed with naturally curly, out-of-control big hair every day of my life, so every 8 weeks or so I get a few days of happiness from looking different.

I got my hair done today, and whenever I get my color and cut, my hairdresser Ilene is always kind enough to break a sweat making it straight. It takes a lot of blow drying, patience and tons of flat ironing. It's even more of a challenge when it's hot because she knows I like to drop the top on the EOS as much as possible. So after she straightened it, she pulled some of it back and threw a little braid in.



This is after a visit to Nadine's, including some play time with her doggies, so it's a little messier than it started. But I also kind of like the fact that it's a little undone and imperfect. Kinda like me....

Party Like It's Draft Day!

The NHL Rookie Draft is the official season reset button for every hockey team that didn't win the Stanley Cup this year. The playoffs are over, and all the award hardware has been given out. No matter what success your team experienced, you didn't come home with the big prize, and it's now time to wipe the slate clean and hope for better things for the coming season. Because you want that big prize in your future. And your organization needs a transfusion of new blood to help that process along. It may not be next year, but the hope is that if you draft well, you'll have fresh legs coming up as the old ones move out, and you stay in contention for the the Holy Grail year after year (aka the dreaded Detroit Redwings). At least that's the theory. Sometimes you suck so bad, you just have to clean house and start over (hello, New York Islanders).

The Kings have been cleaning house for a couple of years now, and it's making progress, but you can never look too far ahead, so we Kings fans always get excited about the draft. Even when the team is not "officially" sponsoring a draft party as they have the past few years. WARNING: I am about to get on my soapbox and rant for a minute. If you don't like my bitching, skip the next paragraph.

As a season ticket holder, I think it's a cheeseball excuse to say "We shouldn't be focusing too much on the draft, which is only one piece of the development picture." Not doing an "official" event is a way to save money. I get it AEG. Michael Jackson died and you owe about $81 million in concert ticket refunds. You've got bigger problems than your little hockey team. Why should you spend your money feeding hot dogs and cokes to the people that buy tickets to see your team and keep you in business? Let's just have an "unofficial" watch party at the ESPN Zone and let these people pay for their own food and beverages. Then we can make nice to them and see if we can still sell them more season tickets, but it won't cost anything. Genius marketing.

OK, rant over. I am a loyal fan, and care more about my Kings than I do the machinations of our marketing people. Plus, I wanted to see what young talent we were going to grab. That Doughty kid we got last year worked out pretty good...maybe we can find another one.

One fun add-on to the party this year was the Kings first "Tweet-Up." For you non-computer folks, this is where a bunch of hockey fans that talk online all day on Twitter actually meet up in person.



It was really fun to meet up with some of the folks I share my hockey obsession with on a daily basis. They're all very cool people. We even took an official group photo.



After the niceties were over, it was time to get down to business. Picks one through four pretty much went in order, and as predicted the Kings selected Brayden Schenn 5th in the first round.



A little cool history here...Brayden's big brother Luke Schenn was drafted number 5 last year. And Luke Schenn is good friends with none other than Kings 2008-09 superstar rookie...Drew Doughty! Lots of reasons to like this kid already. Here's a link to a nice write-up by my Twitter buddy Jon Moncrief on young Mr. Schenn and the draft party itself, including some Tweet-Up coverage.

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2690-Los-Angeles-Kings-Examiner~y2009m6d27-Kings-handle-2009-draft-with-skillful-efficiency

And it wouldn't be a Kings event unless I ran into Bailey. He loves to mess with me when I'm trying to take his picture. His shtick this time was moving just when I hit the button on my camera phone so it wouldn't stay in focus. I finally got it right the fourth time...




Our next hockey stop is Free Agency starting July 1st....and that's a whole other Oprah show.

The Death of My Childhood

I try really hard not to let the inevitability of aging bother me. I pride myself on being one of those people for whom age really is just a number, not a barrier to my ideas, activities or dreams. But one of the sure fire signs of getting older is the way you mourn the losses you experience. It goes beyond ordinary sadness at the loss of a person, it also becomes grief from remembering a long-forgotten piece of your life. Each loss makes the memories flood back. You remember the person you were before, and a little piece of your history dies along with the loss of what made you remember it.

Today, I lost some key pieces of my childhood with the deaths of actress Farrah Fawcett and musician and entertainment icon Michael Jackson. It may seem silly to some people that I associate childhood memories with celebrities, but I am a child of mass media. There was already a television in every home when I was born, so pop cultural phenomenons were an integral part of the landscape. I came of age in a world hard wired for celebrity culture. And these people were two of the biggest celebrities around in my young life. Each in their own way, their legacies shaped who I am today.

Farrah had her heyday just as I was entering puberty, which was a curse in a couple of ways. Having naturally curly hair did not lend itself well to the famous feathered hairdo. As my mother can attest, I spent HOURS trying to get every hair in the right position to replicate that famous look. I would wash it at night, and pin it down flat, then sleep on it to make sure it stayed flat. But since I tossed and turned (and still do) in my sleep, I had to get up early the next morning and use a curling iron to feather it in place, finished off with a can of hairspray. That worked until my gym class 2nd period, when the first hint of sweat sent everything back curling it's own god-given direction, leaving me looking NOTHING like Farrah.

As if battling crazy hair wasn't enough, every pre-teen boy I was starting to notice had that famous red bathing suit poster of Farrah on their wall. Even as a (relatively speaking) skinny kid, no way was I measuring up to that! I was doomed! Farrah was like the head cheerleader, the most popular girl in school, and the most interesting person in the world rolled into one. I was never going to be her, but I still rooted for her when she was jumping out of a moving car on Charlie's Angels. Because you can be beautiful and bad-ass at the same time.

Michael Jackson was EVERYWHERE through my entire young adulthood. From 8th grade until I graduated from college, there was at least one significant Michael Jackson song I associate with every year of my life. Most years, there was more than one. He changed MTV forever, made me want to be someones P.Y.T., and inspired me to copy entire dance routines! And don't even get me started on how many Halloweens, theme nights, dances and events referenced his fashion choices. I think I still have a sparkly glove somewhere....

Michael's music made you feel young, and hopeful, and happy. You can't listen to any of it without wanting to MOVE somehow. Because love him or hate him, that's what Michael Jackson did - he moved people. And though I will never understand the tortured and tragic figure he became later in his life, I believe that inspirational artist still lived on in him, just sadly hidden.

I feel sorry for kids coming up now that didn't know the Farrah and Michael I did. They have been raised only on the run-down, burned out, damaged versions. But I remember when they shone like stars, and a part of me will always keep those versions alive.

Rest in peace, my friends.

Breakfast with Deano

LA Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi holds a breakfast meeting every summer with a group of season ticket holders to talk about the Kings plans for the coming year. It's free, and I've never been to one before, so I figured it was a good reason to get up early on a Saturday morning and take a little drive to the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. And now that I live downtown, it's only about 20 minutes away instead of 45 - bonus!



There were a few hundred people there, and even a few wearing the right number!





The people that get to ask questions are chosen at random. You put your name in a bowl, but don't have to write your question down, which ensures no "screening." I give Dean a lot of credit for being willing to stick his neck out like that. But this was a pretty well informed group of people, optimistic about the Kings future, so no raw eggs got thrown. That may come later, of course....

I got lucky and was picked to ask a question, which was basically about how we can develop some "killer instinct" and will to win in our guys as a team. Some of them have it individually, but we still need to be more competitive as a team. In short, the response I got was "It's a great question...and we're working on it." For a more eloquent reporting of all the questions from the breakfast, I'd recommend you check out Rich Hammond's "Inside the Kings" blog.

http://www.insidesocal.com/kings/2009/06/gm-breakfast-part-3.html

My question is the "Brian Boyle" referenced one in the third installment.

Oh, and the guy before me asked if the Kings announcers could so something about fan behavior while watching the game. So that gave me a perfect segue into my most important comment of the day....PLEASE learn how to pronounce Drew's name correctly! That one got laugh from my fellow fans.

For his part, Dean continues to pronounce it wrong.

Pizza Delivery Has Come a Long Way....

One of the bad habits I developed living in suburbia was stopping to pick up dinner somewhere every night on the way home. Baja Fresh, Subway, Jack-in-the-Box...and if I was in the mood for pizza, Little Caesars, because they have the absolute best cheesy garlic bread on earth. I would pass all of these on the commute home to the old place, so it seemed like the efficient thing to do.

Now that the freeway goes straight from my office home with no real traffic, there really isn't any place convenient to stop along the way. In part this is good, because I've been making an effort to cook more. Saves money, and it's healthier. But I had a long day at work today and just wasn't up for it, and I was craving some pizza. Domino's conveniently left a flyer in my mailbox, so I figured what the heck.

I look at the listings on the flyer, find the closest location, and pick up the phone like any good person who last ordered a pizza 6 years ago would do. After holding a bit, I caught the automated message telling me the fastest way to order was online. Since I had little patience and a now-growling stomach, I hung up the phone and hit the laptop.

And I discovered....The Pizza Tracker! Where has this been all my life!



I actually watched it process...because I'm a geek like that. And sure enough, about 5 minutes after the red bar entered the delivery section, there was a knock on my door. Behind it stood a friendly guy with my pizza. Exactly 23 minutes from the time I hit the button to place my order.

So Pizza Hut officially rocks the technology. The garlic cheese bread...still not Little Caesars.

Adventures in Moving: Part 6 (The Finale)

Well, it's been a long 10 days, but I think I'm finally done. Found some great furniture this weekend, just perfect for the size of the room. It was delivered Monday, and now the apartment is fully functional. I have a place to eat, blog, talk, watch TV, listen to music, relax, cook, entertain, and sleep. And it's a good thing, because I'm also out of decorating money!

The sofa-chair, by the way was meant to be. Not only is it comfy, it folds out into a single bed, in case someone might need to visit and stay a while! And the best part...the model is named Meghan! Nadine picked up on that little fact, and once she did, we stood there in the store, looked at each other, and knew it was a done deal.

So without further ado, the new space...finally complete!













My last stop today was Bed, Bath and Beyond, the best source for all the little stuff like throw pillows, kitchen gadgets...and a trash can. I wanted a nice stainless steel one, not one of those cheap plastic deals.

I always wondered why people included trash cans on their wedding gift registries, and now I know. These suckers are EXPENSIVE! I didn't even get the biggest, nicest one, and it still costs $129! Thank goodness for my 20% coupon, which brought the cost down to roughly a C-note. For that much money, this thing ought to make my coffee and wake me in the morning, and take out the trash all by itself! But it sure is pretty, and it's "fingerprint proof."



At least they soften the blow a little by including a package of special can liners with your purchase!



So now that my life is fully functional, this will be my last "Adventures in Moving" post. On to the more interesting business of living life...

Adventures in Moving: Part 5

So all the boxes are finally unpacked, and everything is put away. Not completely organized (at least not to my standards), but not sitting in piles on the floor. But I'm still only about half done, and here's why.

When you enter my place and turn right, it looks like someone lives here....



But go left, and you see the problem....





Incidentally, the side table to the right is where I've been sitting and working at the computer. The box under the laptop is empty, but I needed something to get the computer to the right height. If that isn't some major MacGyver style rigging, I don't know what is.

So today I will shopping for furniture - specifically a small but elegant dining room set, affordably priced but better-than-Ikea quality. And potentially a chair for the "living room" area which will exist between the dining set and bed. But I kind of want to see how the dining stuff fits first. I'm really trying to avoid cramming too much stuff in here and making the room look smaller than it already is. Nadine, the goddess of shopping, will assist me today. I need all the help I can get!

In happier news, the kitchen is done, and I've managed to start feeding myself on a more regular basis. In fact, I went to Whole Foods the other day and actually stood there in the store, stunned, for about 5 minutes before I could figure out what to buy. When I thought about it more, I realized I haven't cooked anything but deviled eggs, crock pot meatballs, or cookies for about 3 years, and I've forgotten how to shop for a week of meals. Amazing how take-out rots your culinary brain! I'm more than excited to start correcting that.







And most importantly, the bar is open. Need I say more?



Actually, I do have one more thing. I have to give special thanks to my good friend Tanya Offerdahl for my first flower delivery in the new place!



The girl is running around after an 18 month old toddler, 8 1/2 months pregnant with BGO (Baby Girl Offerdahl) number two, working, and being a single mom when her pilot husband is at his job, yet still has time to send me flowers. Now THAT is a true friend!

OK, that's really it. I'm off in search of greatness! Wish me luck....