(~~Oprah Winfrey)
Just like that, 2011 came to an end. By far, the fastest year of my life. I know, they say the older you get the faster it goes...and it's damn true! Definitely a year of ups, downs, and changes. Some good and some bad...some yet to be determined.
New Year's Day fell on a Sunday this year which is my usual day off, but I didn't want the day to be just like any other normal day off, so I made plans to head to beautiful San Jose. My purpose was threefold. 1) To meet a not-often-seen friend for lunch. 2) To pick up our tickets to the upcoming Sharks/Capitals game. And 3) to get my lazy butt out of the house!
The Sharks were holding practice at Sharks Ice, so I made sure my plans revolved around that. If I'm going to drive 2 1/2 hours each way to San Jose, I might as well see some damn hockey players! When I got there, the players were already on the ice, although I thought I was actually going to be early.
I climbed up onto the bleachers. Not too gracefully I might add. Embarrassing. I didn't fall or anything, but I definitely didn't put my best side forward. haha But (no pun intended) I HOPE it wasn't the reason Jumbo was staring at me. I tried to take this photo on the down low, so it's not in the greatest focus.
I must say, this pracky contained a lot of awesome. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves and interject where I feel inspired. Here, Handzus and Ginner spend some time discussing.
The "Big Kid" shares a laugh with Fraser McLaren.
The next group of pictures is from a drill that I absolutely love to watch. It never fails to generate smiles and laughter from at least a couple of the players. This time it far exceeded my expectations.
For the drill, they move both nets to just outside the center-ice faceoff circle. Then it's 3-3 basically with one guy to take the faceoff & get the puck to the shooter who tries to score on the opposing goalie. There's not much movement and it's pretty bang-bang. When a shooter scores, they bring on new groups. The guys waiting form a half-circle on the far side of the "mini-rink".
One of the last groups to go had Dan Boyle as the shooter (shooting on Thomas Greiss). Poor Boyler just couldn't get a shot past the German. Nein! Pretty soon Jumbo and Burnsie were heckling Dan pretty hard. The LOUD cries of "Come on Dan!!" in Jumbo's voice were soon echoing around the building to the joy off all.
Finally Dan was able to pot one and they moved on to the next group.
For some reason, Winchester decided to attack Burns after the drill was over. lol I LOVE the crazy, gleeful look on his face.
After that, practice started winding down.
How can you NOT love this guy and his smile???
As usual, these gracious athletes took time to sign for the fans. I really admire hockey players for this...and it doesn't end there. I know a lot of people wait out in the parking lot for the guys to walk to their cars. Most of the guys oblige with autographs and photos out there as well.
After practice was over, I had to drive to a nearby Buddhist temple to meet the guy who was selling me the tickets. He was originally going to come to practice too but his mom made him go to church. Good for her. Outside the temple, I saw this beautiful lion surrounded by bamboo and couldn't resist taking a picture of it.
After grabbing the tickets, I headed over to meet my friend for lunch. We decided to grab something and take it to the nearby cemetery. Weird Jeanette Fact: I love cemeteries. The older the better, but I can find beauty in almost any cemetery. I think they are beautiful and peaceful and full of love and respect. So of course I like to take photos...
After we caught up and walked around for a bit, I decided to hit the road because I had one more stop I wanted to make on my drive home. Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo.
I always mean to make time to go there, but usually I'm either rushing somewhere (like HP Pavilion) or it's late and, therefore, closed. So I was determined to make it there before it closed at 5pm. Unfortunately, I did not take into account that it was a holiday so it was closed. FAIL But I did walk around the grounds and take a few photos.
All in all, a pretty good way to start the New Year of 2012.
"Be always at war with your vices,
at peace with your neighbors,
and let each new year find you a better man."
- Benjamin Franklin
xoxo
