Work, work and more work

With the summer quickly closing I'm finally getting back into the swing of things within the hockey world. Plenty of prospects reports to read and do, rankings to finalize and soon training camps to attend. THANK GOD ITS ALMOST HOCKEY SEASON AGAIN. Laugh all you want but it's the way I am. I'll be back to being busy every day. Working during the day at callus info and hockey at night then late nights spent doing articles and then finally on weekends having a few beer to relax, party it up and watch more hockey with friends. Yea my life does rock LOL. With the possibility of this new job in scouting that might be changed to all hockey and partying. Which would be even better but we'll see.

As for an update, all is well i suppose. Still without a car but I'm looking for one. I work a lot, doing 9 hour shifts right now on top of the scouting. On top of all that, our floors in the apartment were being redone so the whole place is a mess with books and random furniture. Tripping over desks, beds and working men...not my idea of fun. Do whatcha gotta do though i suppose.

Anyways I have to grab a shower and head to work for 4...I'll be sure to come online and check for comments tonight before I start my hockey work around 2am ish. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.
XOXO,
Mana

The summer time blues...

Every year it's the same damn thing, Hockey runs basicly through from mid-August to early June whether it be major junior or NHL always some great stuff on ice. Even in June when the Stanley Cup is handed out in the first couple weeks there is the NHL awards and then the QMJHL draft, then it's the NHL entry draft and of course the CHL import draft. It keeps me busy with article and reports, lots of prospect talk which of course is my bread and butter. Now in July I'm offically suffering from what everyone close to me calls, hockey withdrawl. It sucks...its not even the summer time blues it's the July blues.
On the good side of things i love my new job. Marketing research is what they call it, it's basicly conducting surveys over the phone but it's fun and i'm not of my feet for 9 hours. I dont smell like fast food or coffee at the end of each day, it's good stuff I tell ya. I love the people i work with, and if someone is in a bad mood they stay in their cubicle and dont talk to anyone but there is at least 50 other people is good moods. The supervisors rock, they are always trying to make is fun, coming around and checking on everyone. The other night Jason (a supervisor) had this girls vs boys thing for completed surveys because we were having a hard time getting completes. We blew them out of the water btw. GIRL POWER! lol just kidding, cant believe i just said girl power, thats just not right LOL. Anyways i'll write some more later.
Love ya all XOXO

Healthy Living...

We've all heard it and seen it, on the tv, radio, internet, health issues are no longer reserved just for the doctors offices. In the wee hours of Saturday morning while staying up late to watch a movie with Jen and Lee I got the biggest scare of my life. Well we all did, now I won't re-tell the story seeing as anyone reading this knows what happened and that Lee will be just fine however I wanna share some of my thoughts from this past weekend. First off I'll admit by Saturday night I was a little overwhelmed but I love everyone so much, extended family included and I was sure to tell Lee and Jen about everyone calling and checking up on his status. Thank God for the support system this family has. As much as we may fight and argue sometimes no one pulls together faster then us Solomons when one of us is in need of it. I can't even explain the emotions going through with each call I got from Jen at the hospital and even in between the calls. It was torture and I spent much of the first few hours in shifts between crying and reading things online. By the way reading things online makes it worse damnit. I pulled myself together everytime the phone rang though, which was often. I want to thank Jen for keeping me so up to date. I always answered the phone with clear concern but without the tears in hopes it helped Jen. She's such a strong person and I can't imagine what it took for her not to break down that night. I tried my best to be strong for her I know she needed that. I'm a worrier naturally, it just how i am and as it stands I'm already concerned about everyone in our family for one reason or another, Lees hospital visit reinstated that. I know better then anyone sometimes health issues are out of your control. In our family several heretitary diseases run and the fact that a few of us are just a bit too lazy and really love our food really doesn't help anything. I'm one of them and I know it. It is something I have been working on though for the last few months, ya can ask Jen. Please for every one of you work at getting healthy or for those good ones, stay healthy. I can't imagine losing anyone in our family and certainly not when it is in our control. I know all the kids worry so much about Daddy and I hope that the call and the paniced drive to the hospital on saturday to help Lee through this was a wake up call for him. We as a family need to pull together and be there for Lee and Daddy, no matter what either of them say they are so much alike and I want them both around for a good long time. If that means pushing a healthy lifestyle on them til they resent me for it, fine. I'd rather deal with a little bitterness then lose either of our big teddy bears. I hope you're all in on this with me, hell push me to be healthy, God knows I need motivation to keep at it. I know this is the second straight long post but I really felt it important to not only thank all of you for the calls and the support but to ask your help in perventing any of us from needing to making those types of call again.

I love you all so much,
Mana XOXO

jobs and careers...

My latte making days are now numbered. This afternoon I gave a letter to my manager explaining not only my reasons for leaving Starbuck but also offering my sincere thanks for everything I have learned. I know a surprising amount about coffee and teas. Funny part about all this is I am truly proud of my new found knowledge and maybe had the enviroment had been different and the store a little closer to my new addy I would have stuck it out longer. It's no where nearly my passion for hockey but it's a real interest now. I have recently had some good offers in scouting come along and that in part worked it's way in my decision to leave Starbucks. The new job is for a call center and has flexible hours. They are willing to work with my hockey schedule and that is really important to me. I know when I first started with my silly note taking people laughed. I heard the chuckles coming from my own living room as a ill 16yr old kid with nothing else to do. I hope I have proved to everyone however that I am VERY serious about making a career out of my passion for this Nations favorite game. I have written in magazines, scouted, and worked with other scouts. My name has been dropped to people who are very big in the hockey world. This winter I will be working very closely with a well known QMJHL scout. Though he has a couple years experiance on me we met working for the same online scouting service/magazine and while he's moved on to another scouting service we have stayed good friends. His connections outside of my current magazine will help me in a huge way. I have the heart, skills and knowledge to be a pro scout it's down to making sure the right people continue to hear my name. I know when I first started this blog I kinda said I wouldn't go on and on about hockey. There is more to life and I spend lots of time writing about other things but it's really important to me that everyone close to me, especially my family understands how much this all means to me. I may ramble on and sometimes you may only understand a word or 2 out of a whole conversation but please support me in my silly rants. Everyone in the world could tell me I'm too young or that girls are hardly ever seen in a mens hockey scouting position, I wouldn't listen to any of them. Dreams are not just for dreaming, they are to motivate you to change your reality. I am motivated and working in the direction to make my reality more the way I want it to be.

After all that...Happy Canada Day Everyone!!!! We all are so lucky to live in a country that is free and open, with free (well sorta) healthcare.