Random musings

It's been a disjointed couple days. Tuesday marked my return to hockey with practice at the sentimental and unpleasantly fragrant Pan Am. In all my warm recollections of hockey I'd forgotten about the bacterial infused facilities and terrible Zamboni work. But that's a part of it, I suppose. Pan Am is an old gal and could use a little TLC; an unlikely event as her existence is darkened by the shadow of the new stadium and what will be done with that real estate.

The team looks good, and it feels good getting back into the gear that's held up well although I've shrunk some in the last couple years. My shot is weak, but it was never really that good to begin with. I've always relied on one timers and dekeing goalies. No slappers for this gal.

I received a coupon today from Borders thanking me for shopping at a particular Waldenbooks and that it will be closing soon. What libel! I haven't shopped there as an adult. Is Waldenbooks even a real bookstore? I mean, they sell Harry Potter and whatever criminal/lawyer/stock broker/politico/CIA operative drama of the month, but I see them as a large news stand with materials that take a little longer to digest than the Post.

On the work front, business hasn't been so good. I'm somewhat unaffected by it being in I.T., however, I'm still nervous from the grumblings and potential fallout. It's the not knowing that's rough. The best that can be said is this is a potential character building experience in that I'll be practicing going to work everyday under a cloud of press clippings fraught with insider commentary.

Last night I continued the saga of repairing ol' girl. Ol' girl is my '82 Honda CM 450 motorcycle and while she is younger than me I would have no age based qualms in dating her. That's an old motorcycle. I drained and removed the gas tank which took about forty minutes. Apparently, I left far more gas in the tank than I thought. Those carbs are going to look nasty! I drained and nearly removed the carburetor. I was going to remove the tops and have a look see in the jets, but after seeing the black ick drain out of the carbs I decided I might as well rip the whole thing out and have it bathe in carb cleaner. I have it loose, a minor miracle, but the choke and the throttle cables are still attached to it, and I've no idea how to get them unattached. The pins on the ends of the cables look like they were stamped after installation, but I'm sure that's not the case. I'll be scratching my head over this one for a while.

During all this I managed to spill gasoline everywhere. Under the bike, on the engine case, on my shorts and sandals. I walked into my garage this morning and experienced the reek extending to high heaven. I hope I can air that out before it gets inside the house. I have the excess gas (and some brake fluid, and yogurt... I reuse those glass jars) stored away, and I'll be disposing of that at a tox drop facility.