First Comes Love.... Then Comes That "Certain" Commitment

Yes I will finally come out with it. I have fallen in love. Okay I know that three weeks is really fast, but when you know, you really do know. Plus doing something 3 or 4 days of each week really helps you get in touch and get to know what you need to know. My mother said one day I would be just floored and taken completely by surprise, becoming completely smitten. She said this probably because I have tendencies to blow girls off to go skiing, climbing, or do whatever I want to do. I guess she was right. It is a match made in heaven.

You know that feeling, when you think about your love all day? It's a distraction but a good one. You become so consumed and only want to do one thing: be with your love. You count down the hours and the minutes until it's time to meet up. You're constantly smiling. And it's that genuine smile, one that is also done through your eyes. People all around you can tell something is up. You do your best and want everything to be done for and because of your love. You don't care what other people are saying, doing, or thinking, because you are in love. You sacrifice time and stay up later, get up earlier, and try and get out of work quicker. You feel happy with life, work doesn't seem so bad, that idiot that cut you off on the highway doesn't even phase you, you're somewhat scatter brained and giddy all the time.

So I was thinking, "now that I am in love, I probably should show my commitment to my love." That brings us to that commitment that I don't say by name. But we all know that this commitment starts with a purchase of something meaningful. You know I talked to a lot of people asking them how I should go about with this: what style I should buy; what level; what size, how big; what color I should get; should I go with traditional or stylish? All these things were going through my mind for the last two weeks. I finally just made my mind up the other day. This is what I decided on (scroll down).


























That's right, I have fallen in love with hockey. I hope none of you actually thought I had fallen in love with some girl. HA!! Remember who's writing this. I am letting it really take over my life right now. It's a good fit too. I have wanted to play hockey ever since I was 11 years old. I had bought all of the equipment and really wanted to play bad but when my mother and I talked to the youth hockey coach, we found out that the price for the season ice time was $530. There was no way that my mother could afford that and she wasn't able to do that for me. Growing up my mother did anything and everything possible to assist me in my sports pursuit, but this was the first thing that she had to back away from. I know that it made her sad seeing me sad and disappointed because my childhood dream was out of reach and impossible to do. I know that it was a really hard thing for my mother to tell me that I couldn't do it, but that's fine.

Life has a funny way of having our dreams come true. It only took fifteen years, but I now am living my childhood dream. I play every Monday, Wednesday night, Thursday morning before work, and alternating Fridays and Saturdays. I owe it to Gas Can Dan for getting me into it. He started playing again and happened to have both a goalie and a player set up. Since he was wanting to just play goalie, he invited me to go play with him, and gave me all of his gear to use. Luckily I had gotten a brand new $300 pair of skates free from my buddy Justin the week before. They were going to just drop them off at D.I. (Goodwill) and decided to give them to me.

Dan and I both really turned up our game this last week. He's knocked off a lot of rust and I finally started to pick up on puck handling. It's really cool to have people ask me where I played in high school and to see their expression when I tell them that I have only been playing for three weeks. I know that I'm not that good but it'll come with time. So here are some pics from our last drop-in game on Wednesday night. Dan's girlfriend was kind enough to take them. She took them from far away in not so great lighting, so they're not the best of quality. I'll get some better ones in the next coming weeks.

Getting back on defense



Stealing a pass across the goal



Getting ready to take a wrist shot



Back on defense again



Dan and me taking a breather

Fun At Work: Introducing Lt. "Gas Can" Dan

So today had a good start to it. I was at my desk going at another wonderful spreadsheet when I got a call. GTACS's very own 2nd Lieutenant Dan Luczak called me in distress. Yes, we have a Lieutenant Dan, just like on Forest Gump. He stated very desperately that he needed my help and to not tell anyone. When I asked him what was going on he said that he's car is stuck on the side of the interstate, to leave and pick him in 5 minutes at the West Gate entrance, and to not tell anyone.

So I go pick him up and what was going on? Lt. Dan, who is a drag racer, from Detroit, lives, breathes, drinks, dreams, and talks cars, has just run out of gas a 1/4 mile outside of base. So to say the least, my buddy is a little pissed and embarrassed. Why wouldn't he be embarrassed? The man practically pisses high octane with how involved he is with cars. Why was he pissed off? Well more than 20 cars passed by as he was walking down the off-ramp to base and no one stopped to see if he needed a ride. "I get no respect I tell ya. Everyone sees that I'm just a 2nd Lieutenant and they just walk on by laughing," he bickers. For those of you that don't know, a 2nd lieutenant is the lowest of the commissioned rank (officers).

I, of course, was having a great time and laughing my butt off. So we go to his apartment, grab a 5 gallon gas can, return to his car, and get him with some fuel to drive the remaining mile to work. Of course, as his friend, I can't let this go unnoticed with the other cowokers. so what do I do? I took out my nifty little iPhone and take the following picture:

Anyone on base would first recognize that exit sign to be the off-ramp to get on base. Next if you look at the right side of the picture, you'll notice a couple of intercontinental ballistics missiles that mark the entrance. He was quite embarrassed to get that far and not make it in.

As we get back to our building, Dan places a gag order on me. As he goes to talk with a boss regarding an item to be brought up in his staff meeting, I email the picture to the guys in the cubicle and others in the building. They just happened to put it on their desktops to see how long it'd take Dan to notice. Well since someone unintentionally let him know that I did that, I had to make up for it. So I printed out a copy and gave it to his boss to pass it around in the staff meeting. I guess that was the funniest staff meeting that they've had in GTACS in a long time.

Now Dan was a little upset at my antics, but it was more to him feeling embarrassed, being a man with a high octane stature. We were joking about after their meeting and came up with a great call sign for him: Gas Can Dan. Yeah it's no Maverick or Goose, but it sure is funny.

Even after all the prodding I did, Dan still took me out to lunch to show his appreciation.