Happy Birthday, Drew!

My favorite Kings rookie (and future Calder Trophy winner) celebrates the big 1-9 today. Happy birthday Drew!!!

I got this picture yesterday at an in-store appearance Drew and his roommate, Defenseman Matt Greene, did at Sports Chalet in West LA. They're smiling because I told Matt he was supposed to bake Drew a cake for his birthday. Greenie told me he'd better not if I wanted to see Drew playing...guess that means he can't cook without making somebody sick! So I told him to buy a cake instead. I'll keep you posted on whether that happened :)

Hopefully Drew finds a little time to celebrate today. The team is hopping a plane after morning practice to fly to Colorado to prepare for their game against the Avalanche tomorrow night.

Another win would make a nice birthday gift, don't you think?

One in the Win Column!

December has been a roller-coaster month so far for the Kings, and we can't seem to get a win streak going without a few losses sprinkled in the mix. So it was nice to get a much needed victory last night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Drew played his usual outstanding defensive game, logging the most ice time of anyone on the team. He also got an assist on the final goal of the game, scored by Anze Kopitar. Sully was also great, earning an assist himself, as well as having a chance at a penalty shot the unfortunately went a little high and over the net. Here's an excerpt from his interview with Rich Hammond of the Daily News as posted in Rich's blog, "Inside the Kings..."

KINGS FORWARD PATRICK O'SULLIVAN:

(Re: game recap): "The more times we play games and go through different situations it's going to make our team better. The quicker we are able to figure that out, the quicker we are going to become better. It's going through that stuff in the game that you learn from."

"If everything continues to progress like it is, I think we are going to be a top team. It's hard to say but I think we've got a good coach and the ownership and management have a plan for what they want to do and I think there has already been a drastic improvement in the game so far this year as compared to last year."

(Re: penalty shot) "He's a left-handed goalie, most of the guys in the league catch with the other hand so I was thinking I was going to go high glove the whole time and I pretty much did what I wanted, I just shot it over the net."

Nice job boys!!! We'll be looking for our next win in Colorado Tuesday against the Avalanche.

Now, for the opposing team "Hottie of the Night." Columbus gave us two. The first is an no-brainer, at least in my mind - #61 Rick Nash, team captain, pure power forward, and great looking Canadian.



Number two, and also winner of Best Hockey Hair of the night, is #40 Jared Boll, who hails from Charlotte, NC, of all places! I know Sully was the first NHL player from NC (he's from Winston-Salem), so now he has company. Boll's big game moment was a huge fight with our favorite enforcer, Raitas "Bam-Bam" Ivanans. Normally I wouldn't give lesser mortals a chance against Bam-Bam, but Boll got a hold of him and gave him a black eye. Very scrappy!



I'm also introducing a new element to my Kings related blogs - the Drew vs Sully jersey win contest! Now that I have jerseys for both, and love them both, I rotate #8 and #12 every other game. The most wins at the end of the season will receive special recognition later...haven't decided what that is yet, so let me know if you have ideas. To date, Drew leads with one win to Sully's 0.

And just in case you think hockey games are only about hockey, the video of the night is a segment of "Human Bowling," one of the spirit crew's favorite intermission activities. How they convince anyone to do this is beyond me. I'd have to be drunk out of my mind to get on that sled....



Enjoy!! And.....GO KINGS!!!

Friday Night Highlights

LA is a place where the universe alternately beats you down and then lifts you up in the most unexpected ways. Traffic getting downtown to the Kings game tonight was miserable, so it was a nice surprise to find a free concert going on in front of the Nokia Theatre, which is right across the street from Staples Center. The artist? None other than contemporary blues singer/songwriter/guitarist Keb' Mo'!





If you're not familiar with his music, check him out. He's worth getting to know.

http://www.kebmo.net/

So after a little light entertainment, I crossed the street to watch the Kings take on the Edmonton Oilers. December has not been kind to the Kings so far, and the first period tonight was a disaster, with 3 goals against. After a goalie swap, we came back in the 2nd and scored 4 goals straight. We ultimately gave up the lead again in the 3rd (bad period for us this month...), kept it tied in OT, but lost in the shootout. The clouds did have 2 silver linings...we got a desperately needed point in the standings, and Sully scored his first shootout goal of the season.

Unfortunately we have no opposing team "Hottie of the Night" because Denie got stuck in traffic and we were late to the warm-up skate. But the honorable mention hottie goes to Edmonton's #71 Lubomir Visnovsky. Lubo was an all-star defenseman for the Kings that got traded just this past season. We miss him, and he's a super dude! And he has the most beautiful blue eyes ever! So give your love to Lubo!

I do have some video to share. This is how you score a shootout goal...way to go Sully!



My busy hockey weekend continues tomorrow when the Kings take on the Columbus Blue Jackets! And I guess I should finish my Christmas shopping....not much time left.

Magic, Teamwork, and Creativity

Every year, my co-workers and I plan a fun outing with some of our boss' discretionary entertainment budget. In the past, we've done plays, fancy dinners, and everything in between. This year, my buddy Tammy Good (in the colorblock dress in the center of the photo below) was responsible for planning the merriment, and she did a fantastic job! Since all fun in the Progressive universe includes food, we started the night at Yamashiro in Hollywood .

http://www.yamashirorestaurant.com/index.html



It's a bit of an adventure driving around the Hollywood Hills to find it, but the views are awesome, and we had a waiter with a healthy sense of humor who also recommended terrific food and drink options from the more-than-pleasing menu. And the valets were patient with our requests for a group photo after dinner.

The second part of Tammy master plan was a visit to the Magic Castle. The castle is a private club for magicians and magic enthusiasts, basically LA's version of Hogwarts, but with hard alcohol! Normally, a member has to sponsor you or your group to get a reservation, but Tammy managed to talk them into giving her a temporary membership so we could get everyone in. Work it, girl!! There is no velvet rope she can't navigate!

http://www.magiccastle.com/

There are scheduled performances during the night in various rooms of what used to be an enormous Victorian-style private residence, or you can just walk around and see magicians talking about and practicing their craft in the various bars and common areas. Our performers included a very interesting guy name Jheff ( yes, that's Jeff with an "H", and he made us spell it back to him several times during the show... ) who managed to get almost every member of our group involved in his show. We were easy targets because we were sitting in the front row!





After a lot of fun Wednesday night, today was our actual planning meeting. Since Progressive paid for all our fun, we figured we owed it to the company to get some actual work done. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned in at least one blog before that I have a terrific boss, and one of the items on her agenda was "celebrating" our accomplishments for 2008.

Deb is one of the most creative people I know, and she managed to recognize each one of us individually and present us with a gift representing our accomplishment. My gift was a set of floor mats. Don't worry, these are not going in my new car. I've already turned one into a piece of wall art for my office/cubicle.



This probably seems like an odd gift, so there's a back story I need to share here for this to make sense.

One of the classes I handle a lot is Total Loss, and a portion of the material involves practice around identifying options and condition on a vehicle to get the most accurate market value. We can't always practice on a live vehicle, so for years we had been using photos of my '97 Chrysler Sebring as the mock "total loss" vehicle. It had plenty of things wrong with it, including filthy carpet that numerous details could not clean up. So one day at the car wash, I was looking for some interesting floor mats to cover up the dirt, and found these.

Yes, it's tiger print, which is totally me...obnoxious and unforgettable at the same time :) My students would always comment on these, and it was a great way to inject some humor into the class. Since I lost my floor mats when I traded in the Sebring, I guess Deb thought the new car needed some personality. Like I said, she's creative!

So now you have an idea why I still love coming to work at Progressive after 14 years! Work is work, but we all still know how to have fun. Thanks for a great meeting, everyone!

Jersey and Pucks and Goals...Oh My!!!

I actually started this blog post the weekend before last after the Kings overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche on November 22. In all the excitement of the Meet the Players Party the next day, and subsequent trips to Seattle and Portland, I just realized I never finished it. Proof, I suppose, that life is sometimes one never ending to-do list. So while I'm waiting for my facial mask to cure, I have a few minutes to brag about my recent hockey memorabilia acquisitions.

I acquired the first two items on Russian Heritage night after the Kings victory over Alex Ovechkin and the Caps. At the party after, they had some signed AO stuff on a silent auction. I was the first person to put in a bid, never dreaming I'd actually win. I found out the next day I did, so apparently it was a slow night. Either that or everyone had too many vodka drinks and forgot how to use a pen. Their loss, my gain!!! I am now the proud owner of a puck and 8X10 glossy signed by Alex the Great.




The night of the 22nd, the Kings Care Foundation had a Drew Doughty jersey on the silent auction, so I figured, what the heck! The rookie needs my support, Kings Care does great things for charity, and someone will outbid me, right? Wrong again!! My cell phone rang in the middle of the 3rd period, and I ran giggling from my seats to pick up my new #8 jersey, then promptly ran to the ladies room to wear it for the rest of the game. Meg Doughty has a nice ring to it, don't ya think? OK, maybe not, but I love the jersey just the same.




And lest you think I've forgotten about Sully, rest assured I haven't. He scored a goal in our loss to the Avs, so he deserves a mention. I'm rotating his jersey with Drew's every other game from here on out. He and Drew are not only teammates but ping pong doubles partners, so I don't think Sully will mind... he'll always be my first love, and you never forget those. And I've even included a picture of him modeling the Kings new "Back in Black" third jersey, which initially I hated but is now growing on me.



If anyone needs Christmas list ideas, I don't have this jersey yet....I'm just saying....

Ugly Math

Tonight's Kings game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs can be summed up using the following simple algebraic formula:

(1+2) -3 = 0

1 = Great first period! Alex Frolov scores a goal 57 seconds into the game.
2 = Solid second period. Responsible defense, but no fireworks on offense.
3 = Third period is marred by stupid penalties, a 5 on 3 goal against us and a second goal on the 5 on 4 power play about a minute later. Including an empty-netter, we gave away 3 goals in less than 20 minutes.
0 = Big fat loss

And that's all I have to say about that....

On another mathematical subject, Nadine's theory was proven tonight...the best looking team does win the game. Almost every guy on the Leafs is HOT!! So tonight, instead of 3 stars of the night, we have 3 Hotties of the Night.

#3 Hottie - Nik Antropov (#80). Nadine walked face first into Nik in the Grand Reserve Room VIP party last year, and at 6' 6" and 230 lbs that leaves a mark! But he's a huge teddy bear...aren't they all?



#2 Hottie - Pavel Kubina (#77). There's something hot about a guy with a black eye. Only a girl who loves hockey players will understand it, but there it is.



And #1 Hottie - Lee Stempniak (#12). Now you're probably thinking the same thing I was all night....where have I seen him before? In my blog! Lee was acquired by the Leafs November 24 in a trade with the Columbus Blue jackets. He was my Blue Jackets Hottie of the Night back on
November 8th. Different uniform, still hot! Congrats on your second blog appearance, Lee!



Let hope for better luck Friday night against the Oilers...

The Princess and the Frosting (a Modern Fairy Tale Birthday)

Once upon a time in a faraway land called Portland, there lived a beautiful little Princess named Addie. As her first birthday approached, her amazing mother, Queen Tanya, decided a celebration was in order. So e-vites were sent to the far corners of the kingdom, and people traveled from near and far the help the princess celebrate the miracle of her birth!

Queen Tanya is very wise, and decided that Princess Addie should have special memories of this day when she was older, so she created a time capsule for all the subjects to fill with memories of 2008, the first year the Princess ruled her kingdom. When Auntie Meg arrived from CA, she wrapped the time capsule in Mickey Mouse paper, since Princess Addie loves Mickey!



When they day of the party arrived, the King and Queen posed regally with their Princess. Everyone was awestruck at what a beautiful and perfect family they made!



Then the King presented Princess Addison with a specially baked birthday cake. Before she could dig in, everyone sang to her...



Then it was time to eat, and eat she did!! And she smeared icing all over her face and hands, to the joy of her subjects looking on! But the Princess did not care if she was covered in icing. "It's my birthday, and my kingdom, so I make the rules," she thought to herself.



And not only did she get cake, the Princess got presents! Piles of beautifully wrapped boxes and bags! So many, in fact, that Princess Addie was a little overwhelmed by all of it. "Have my servants guard my treasures, and I will open them tomorrow," she decreed. "This Princess needs a nap!"



The next morning, the presents were opened, and Princess Addison reveled in the love and admiration of all the friends and family that stayed overnight in the castle as guests of the King and Queen. And Princess even had one last smile for her favorite Auntie Meg, who gave her a pink teddy bear backpack as a gift. The Princess knew she would be walking soon, and needed something to carry her tiara, of course!



And the Princess lived happily every after!