Displaced

Sis-in-law Amy just called me from the quad on Tulane's campus.

She's in a cardboard box.

Amy is taking part in Displace Me, a project designed to call attention to the 1.5 million Ugandans who have been forced from their homes by the war in their country. Here's a snippet about the project from InvisibleChildren.com:

"The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted thousands of children, subjected them to torture or sexual violence and forced them to fight in a violent guerilla army for 21 years—making it the longest running war in Africa. In hopes of providing protection from this rebel militia, the Ugandan government forcibly evicted its Northern citizens from their homes—giving them 48 hours to relocate into camps. Today, more than 1.5 million Northern Ugandans remain far from secure, suffering nearly 1,000 deaths per week due to inhumane living conditions in the camps.

“Displace Me” is the nationwide event giving Americans the chance to respond.

By traveling to one of our 15 camps and gathering together, the strength of our size will make a visible statement to our government and media that the citizens of the U.S. demand action in ending the war in Northern Uganda, in order to send the Acholi people suffering in the camps and the abducted children back home."

So thousands of people across the U.S. are spending tonight in makeshift camps, with cardboard boxes and sleeping bags as their shelters. The women have to bring water to the camps, and the men gather the food -- saltine crackers. This mimics, in a small way, the conditions in the camps.

Amy lives in a "compound" will several other students from her seminary. She and her boxmate, Tiffany, scrawled slogans on their box:
"Aid is not enough"
"We know what it means to miss home"

I hope someone is listening.

Moving Closer...

Well, I'm getting closer to having my business up and running. Today Paul and I took pictures of some of the products for the web site. I still have to figure out some of the technical aspects of the site, such as credit card payments and security. I'm excited about officially opening my web store, but I'm also a little scared. So much responsibility! Will everything fall into place like I hope?

I changed my business into a Limited Liability Company, which makes this all feel even more real.

Song in My Head

Funkytown

Song in My Head

This morning I woked up with Matisyahu's "Jerusalem" in my head.
Odd.

Best photo of the playoffs

So, this probably is my favorite photo from this year's playoff games:


A creative Preds fan apparently decided to tell the refs what we thought of their officiating.

Now, I don't mean to imply that the refs decided the series. The Sharks outplayed us at times, and Nabokov was frustratingly good. The Sharks won, and that's that. But I still think the refs made some horrendous calls (and non-calls).

P.S. -- While I found the stuffed shark terribly amusing, and I enjoy the occasionally catfish, in general I don't condone throwing things on the ice. Some fans threw plastic bottles and trash onto the ice at the end of the last game, and while I understood their frustration (I wanted to throw a few things myself), I thought that was pretty careless. That's not a good way to show that we love hockey here in Nashvegas.

Lost at the Lake

Got lost at Radnor Lake yesterday. Well, not lost, exactly. I just...didn't know where I was, relative to the rest of the park. My friend Sarah and I went for a short walk, which turned into a long hike. They really should post signs with maps and trail lengths. There's one at the visitor's center, but it wasn't terribly helpful -- I only saw it after Sarah and I had walked for a mile and a half. The map helped us discover that we had another mile to go before getting back to the car.

That said, Radnor Lake is a lovely place to spend the afternoon. Check it out, just check out a map first.

The best part of the afternoon? When Sarah spotted an owl. It was kind enough to pose for several pictures.

And ... the end.

[sniffles]

And so, the Nashville Predators' post-season run again ends in the first round.

I sad.

And I dread the off-season, when -- according to pundits, fans, and most residents of Davidson County, whether or not they ever attended any hockey games -- there will be major shuffling of players and coaches.

To the Preds organization, I would like to say thanks. Thank you for a great season, even if it ended early. I love my Preds. I love watching hockey. I want the Preds to stay in Nashville for a very long time.

To the Preds players, thank you, and please stay. I really would love to see Forsberg play for us again next year, though reportedly there's a slim chance of that. Foppa, if by any chance you are reading, stay in Nashville!

Thanks to all the players, though, for a great season. Thank you for being great role models for our community, and thank you for all your work through the Predators Foundation.

And now I can return to the rest of my life. At least until pre-season starts this fall. :-)

Life Beyond Hockey?

So, many of you may be wondering if there is anything to my life right now besides playoff hockey.

Well....

No, not really.

Well, maybe a little.

I am working on starting my own business, a retail web store emphasizing fair trade and locally made products. As soon as my store is up and running, I'll post more info here.

Pics from Game 2!

Hey, peeps --

Check out my hubby's awesome photos from Game 2 of the Preds vs. Sharks series.

Song in My Head

Current Song in My Head:
"Come On, Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners

I blame George Plaster and the Sports Zone for that.
(It's a Preds playoff thing.)

On the Ice

Oh, I forgot to post a very interesting part of last night's game. Paul and I were picked to take part in the on-ice game during the first intermission. We lost the competition, but we had fun. Also, we got a "Predators Prize Pack," which consists of various promo giveaways from previous games. Usually it's kinda lame, but we got some cool stuff, like Tomas Vokoun scrubs and a Paul Kariya figurine.

[blink] [blink] [yawn]

Why am I blogging at 11:30pm? Because I just got home from the Predators game, which went into double overtime.

The San Jose Sharks won, which is unfortunate. But I must say, it was an excellent game. I can't wait to see highlights. The Preds really showed up, especially after the second period. And Forsberg -- wow! He was amazing.

I hate hockey overtime, though. It's sudden death, which means that the game is over as soon as a team scores. There's just no closure for me in that. I have a deep need to see the clock wind down.


Anyways, get ready for some shark sushi on Friday!

Yes! The monkey says we'll win.

Well, I feel better now. Maggie the Monkey has predicted that the Predators will win the first round of the playoffs.

Nash-fabulous!

While walking to a Predators game on Tuesday night, I saw Little Richard. He was driving an SUV outside the downtown Hilton. He looked good. Not too orange.
Only in Nashville.

The Preds FINALLY won a game on Thursday night. It was their last regular season home game, so that was a nice finish. As Paul McCann wrote on his blog, "a big thank you to the aliens who returned the Nashville Predators to the Nashville Arena last night."

I personally take at least partial credit for the win, 'cause I sent the Preds notes of encouragement and water guns to wish them good luck for the playoffs. I sent Darcy Hordichuk a rubber chicken, too.