Movement

I did not discover that an earthquake hit the Hawaiian islands until almost six this evening. I am a bit worried as my paternal grandparents live on Oahu and are quite elderly. They managed to get a message via my uncle's cell phone to my Dad's sister that they were OK, but without power or regular phone service, and would probably be so for several days.

J and I spent Saturday helping two of our friends, JW and K combine their separate households into one. There were six of us involved in the move, just enough people to make it bearable. Highlights included:

• Helper C gets into a heated argument with a neighbor at JW's old house after asking her to move her car for a couple of hours. The argument escalates until the feminine half of the group flees for the general safety of the house. This is the second time that C has gotten into an argument with this particular neighbor, both times over one of us taking “her” parking space.
• We discover that JW and K's new house includes a swimming pool.
• We discover that K's tolerance for filth is incredibly high. Due to conflicts with her roommate, K has not done anything to clean her house (which she owns) other than an occasional vacuum and swab of the toilet in over six months. Every surface in the house was covered with dirty dishes, filmy drinking glasses, food wrappers, dust and the hair from K's three dogs. We raise a glass to K's fortitude, as she is not a big fan of dirt. Disorganization yes, dirt no.
• The rehab on my left shoulder (from tendinitis) is set back several weeks when C throws a large, heavy bag of clothes off of K's porch right into the almost healed shoulder. I am forced to regress to the paddle board (again) for several more weeks.
• Mike's Hard Sour Apple tastes pretty good after a day of moving furniture and boxes.
  

After a long day spent relocating two houses, J and I headed off the Penguins/Hurricanes game.

Normally I am the type of fan who will stay through the worse a team has to offer. Last night J and I left at the start of the third period, when I could no longer stand the bad officiating or the two nitwits sitting behind us.

The Penguins were outplayed. Their skating and passing were out of sync and the Hurricanes defense and penalty killing unit were in top form. Cam Ward made several exceptional saves.

I can accept the referee's decision to wave off the first Penguins goal on the premise that they had ruled the play dead. A full arena can be very loud and the fans don't always hear the whistle. I cannot accept the referees ignoring the blatant interference as John LeClair headed towards the opposing goal on a breakaway, the body tackle committed on Sidney Crosby as he was attempting to score or a Hurricane hitting Mark Recchi hard enough to knock his helmet off.

And if someone is willing to explain to me why two players can receive the same penalty but one is forced to serve double the time, I would really appreciate it.

So home we went, and I to bed to sleep until 10:30 this morning. I put aside my original plan of painting all day for a book and the making a pot of clam chowder for meals later this winter.