Foreign Ice

So I am in Dallas this week, and today I went skating at the Dallas Galleria mall. The rink is in the middle of the mall, and it's a multistory mall with large windows over the walkways of the mall so that there is natural sunlight. I found it extremely weird to be skating under sunlight instead of the lights I'm used to in Tucson. The ice was very wet everywhere it was exposed to the sun, and a little soft. I was there for about an hour and a half, and they had a Z-break at 3 (just after I got there) and again at 4:30 (as I was leaving) which is not bad, really. It was somewhat crowded compared to what I'm used to in Tucson, but not as bad as I expected. There were lots of kids, of course, but not too many teenagers or adults. I'd say it was at least 50% or more kids under 10. The rink is fairly small, I'd say almost the standard width but only 3/4 or so the length.

I was there with my friends' daughters, ages 14 and 13. The 13 year old (B) skates much better than I do, and the 14 year old (K) is a bit better than me, at least she gets around the rink a bit better than me though I think I probably know how to do a couple of things that she doesn't. I fell twice due to a little girl zipping right in front of me (out of control, of course) and me trying not to run her over. (This is how I found out just how wet the ice was!) I also fell a third time, my own fault, I caught my toepick. It's the kind of error I almost never make on my home ice but I was distracted by the people and the ice. I worked on my stroking and a few other skills but the thing I most wanted to work on (1 foot glides) I didn't because by the time I was warmed up enough and in the mood to do such things I'd already fallen 3 times and wasn't really in the mood to be ready to fall again.

While I was there we bumped into a very nice older woman (I'd guess her 60s) who was teaching someone (her husband?) to skate backwards. We had a nice little chat, and she worked with K and B on their backward skating. She was very kind and fun to talk to. People like that are one of the best things about skating, I think. She mentioned that another rink we'd considered going to, in Addison, is much better and quieter. We didn't go there because oddly enough their only Sunday public skating session is late Sunday night. I might try to go there Monday or Tuesday by myself; I could use some nice quiet ice time to try some things that require me to be brave (and fall), like those one foot glides and maybe just stroking a bit faster.

I tried to evaluate the results of my newly permanently-mounted blades, but I can't really be sure. It seems like they are better but I still got a little crunching on glides -- I think that is mostly likely from being on the inside edge a bit. The other place the mismounted blade was noticeable was on a one foot glide on that foot, but I didn't try any today. I'll have to try to evaluate it more the next time I skate.

Permanent Mounting

I finally got my skates back this evening, with the blades now permanently mounted. It looks like they did a good job, and it appears they made the mounting corrections I asked for. I didn't get to skate on them (no time) so I guess I'll find out next week how they feel. Unfortunately that will be on foreign ice so it'll be a bit of adjustment either way and I won't know how much is the ice and how much the skates.

I was rather surprised to see that they used up all the holes. I was under the impression that the usual procedure is to use some of the holes and leave others unused so that when I get new blades they can get new holes for them. That isn't what they did, though, as they drilled holes and put screws in all the screwholes. I assume that that's okay, and in any case it's too late now.

Skate Sharpening

I came across a really cool FAQ on skate sharpening for figure skaters. Some really neat info!

Eighth Lesson -- Testing

So tonight was my eighth lesson, testing for the end of Basic 1. There were just two of us tonight, myself and José (the adult freestyle student), so Jennifer took him and Rachel (who showed up to help) checked out my moves (so to speak!). I was able to demonstrate all the moves I was supposed to have, except for that darn backward wiggle. They let me slide on that since I can do the backward swizzle which is a) harder and b) what the wiggle was supposed to prepare me for. So I got my nice little Basic 1 certificate. Yea!

While I was there I got Jennifer to look at my skates and my left foot problem. After watching me glide and then looking at my boots she said that my left blade was slightly angled and needed to be moved very slightly clockwise (about a blade width). After my lesson I dropped my boots off to Joe at the pro shop to be drilled out, and I showed him what she'd said. I should be able to get them back tomorrow evening. It felt really weird to be leaving without my skates! Waaah!

Before my lesson I took a moment to sign up for the next semester of lessons. It's a nine-lesson semester since there are nine Wednesdays in July-August. $108. It's worth it. I will have to make up next Wednesday, though, since I will not be there due to my trip. It shouldn't be a problem.

Public Session Madness

I went to the evening public session at Gateway tonight. I hadn't been on a Tuesday before, but it was pretty much the same -- not too crowded, but the usual smattering of teenager girls giggling, hockey boys trying to impress them, and small kids. Almost no adults though.

I spent most of my time working on the same stuff I've been working on. My backward swizzles are in pretty good shape now. I'm still concerned about my snowplow stop being mostly my right foot. Actually, I'm having doubts about my left foot in general. I'm still hearing that crunching noise from my left foot on my glides and it is making me wonder. I'm going to try to get Jennifer to watch it while I glide tomorrow at my lesson and see what she can tell me.

Perhaps I was tired, or something, but I was not in much of a mood to experiment tonight. I only tried a one-foot glide once, and it was for about 3 seconds or so, still curving to the right (on my left foot). I probably should be braver and try it on my right foot. I also did try several times to do the backward wiggle and I still just can't get it. Oh well.

I talked with Joe in the pro shop, he says he will need my skates for a full day to drill out the other holes. I am going to leave my skates with him tomorrow after my lesson and pick them up Thursday afternoon/evening. Unfortunately that means I won't get much of a skate after my lesson tomorrow.

I am going on a trip to Dallas for a week, starting Saturday, and I'm going to bring my skates along. Hopefully I can get a lot of skating in!

Skating And Fitness

I came across a cool website on skating fitness. Check it out, it's pretty neat.

Backward Swizzles!

I had one of those wonderful Eureka! moments today.

I had hoped to go skating at Polar Ice in Chandler on the way back from Phoenix; but when I stopped there around 3 I saw three school buses in the parking lot, and a look inside confirmed that the rink was a total zoo. I gave up on that plan, it was just too crowded for me to accomplish anything.

Fortunately, this evening after dinner with a friend I had time to attend the evening public session at Gateway, my usual rink. When I got there it was not crowded at all, just one (really good) female skater and myself. A bunch of other folks did show up shortly, but it never got crowded. The ice was in terrific shape, too -- clearly it had just been Zamboni-d and was smooth and crisp. Yea!

I spent most of the evening working on standard stuff, paying special attention to my backward swizzles that I have been working on for a couple of weeks or so. At one point, I just had that wonderful moment of comprehension. Jennifer had told me I need to turn my knees out more, but I just didn't quite get it or wasn't paying attention or something. At some point though I remembered or figured it out, or something, and all of a sudden woo! I whipped out 6 or 7 in a row, just like that. It was a wonderful moment. I spent a bit more time working on them to be sure I understood it and that it wasn't a fluke. I managed to do many, many more of them, so I think I understand. I do have to be careful on them -- I notice it's easy to hunch over and then I'll fall forward or catch my toepick. It helps if I keep my hands at my side, or even slightly behind me -- it makes me stand up straighter, seemingly, and they come off pretty well.

The only problem I encountered is that having done a few of them, I realized I don't know how to stop myself when going backward! It's a good problem to have, I guess. I realized by the end of the lesson that I had turned some corner, so to speak -- I felt a lot more comfortable going backward and it didn't conceptually freak me out like before. Of course, I still have a lot to work on, but that's life. I also spent more time on my one-foot glide and actually got it up to six seconds a couple of times! However, I can't do it straight, I keep turning to the right (I'm doing them on my left foot). I'm not sure if that just means my weight is not balanced left-to-right, or it means my weight is not correctly balanced front-to-back on my skate. I'll have to ask at my next lesson. I was there for about an hour and fifteen minutes (8:00 - 9:15).

I had a lot of fun watching the one skater who was there when I arrived. She's really quite good and was, presumably, practicing a program. She looks to be late teens, I'd guess, and though she didn't do any actual jumps (she just waltz-jumped through them) they are clearly there. She also did a number of nice turns and some spins.

Seventh Lesson

For tonight's lesson I had Jennifer again, instead of Rachel from last week. At this point I form no firm conclusions as to who I get, I'm just glad to get a lesson. In this case I had not seen Jennifer since my second lesson so she was pleased with my progress. Tonight was a little distracting because besides the two of us in the adult basic class she also had to simultaneously teach José, who is taking adult freestyle. José is pretty amazing -- he's only been skating for a year and a half, he's 28, and he skates like a dream. He's jumping already. The whole thing gives me hope even though I am 11 years older than he. I don't really care if I never jump (okay, I care a little) if I could just do turns and spins and maybe a spiral. Heck, I'll be happy just to skate backwards and do crossovers.

So tonight I talked with Jennifer about my backward swizzles and the problems I'm experiencing and she gave me some insights. She confirmed that my left toepick crunch on the backward swizzle is because I'm favoring my left foot -- too much of my weight on my left foot, and my weight too far forward. She told me not to worry too much about not being really flat on my glides, she said it's pretty common, plus the fact that my blades are pretty sharp right now makes it more noticeable. I'm pretty much going to keep working on the same stuff. She also talked to me about my one foot glides and told me I need to watch my posture more -- "like a tree" she said, "but with a bent knee!"

After the lesson there was no Z-break, for some reason. The ice was pretty beat up already and it just got worse. That, and there was an area at one end that was coned off due to soft ice (apparently because it's been so blazingly hot this week). All in all pretty bad ice and not very confidence-inspiring.

I stayed 'til about 8:30 (1.5 hours of skating) and worked up a good sweat. My skates are starting to feel more comfortable and I'm getting better with them. I worked a lot on my backward swizzle. Jennifer pointed out that I need to make them bigger and they'll flow better. I found that if I didn't overthink them I could actually do several in a row and do them reasonably well. I'll keep working on it. I have to go to Phoenix for work tomorrow so I'm hoping that I can stop at Polar Ice in Chandler on the way back and try the ice out there for an hour or so before I have to head back.

It's been six weeks since I first set foot on the ice. All in all I'm really amazed at how far I've come in that time, and how much I've accomplished. I know some people learn much faster than I, and I wish I could relax and let go a bit more and just let things flow. Still, all in all I am really pleased with my progress and I really think that by Christmas or so I'll look back at this time with a certain nostalgia.

Breaking In The Skates

As usual, I practiced at the Monday night public session. It was not too crowded and the ice was in decent shape. I spent a reasonable amount of time working on my standard stuff -- two foot glide, swizzles, rocking horse, snowplow stop. I also spent some time working on the backward wiggle and backward swizzle. At one point I succeeded in doing several backward swizzles in a row -- I wasn't really thinking about it, and when I tried to think about it I couldn't do it. So I suspect my body knows what to do and I'm getting in the way.

I'm wondering about my left foot, though. First of all I noticed in my snowplow stop it seems I may really just be pushing out with the right foot and not really (or not as much) with the left. I tried to do a snowplow with just the right foot; no problem. Then I tried to do one with just the left foot, and I could not seem to get my left foot to slide at all. I don't know if this is because I actually have edges now, or if I've always had this problem and didn't realize it. I think it's new, though, because I really thought I was balanced on my stops before. Similarly, when working on my backward swizzle I'm still getting toepick-crunch with the left foot. And in a similar vein I noticed that to really get on the flat of the blade on my left foot I'm having to lean more than feels normal -- that is, if I feel like I'm balanced too far outward on my left foot, when I look down it looks like I'm on the flat (and the ice feels like I'm on the flat, too). I don't know if this is my skates or me (ankle pronation). I'm concerned about it.

I'm still breaking these skates in and I am relacing them frequently during my sessions. Today I actually laced them all the way up to the top, which felt okay. I had some pain in my arch on my right foot for a while, but it seems when I feel that it's because I'm not laced tight enough on the instep, so when I relaced it was better. It seems to be a consistent problem that I don't lace tightly enough on the right foot at first. I'd be concerned except that I have this problem on rollerblades too.

All in all I skated for about an hour and a half and had a pretty good time. I still am going pretty slowly though, but that's okay. I actually had a lot of fun working on the backward stuff. I also notice when I'm going forward and I stroke, stroke, and then glide, I tend to rock my weight backward when I get to the glide -- that is, after the second stroke my weight rocks backward on my skates and then I compensate and move it back forward. I'm not sure what that means.

Whee!

I Sno-Sealed my boots last night. Today I had the afternoon off, so I took my skates in and got the blades their initial sharpening. The guy at the pro shop said I should come in in another week and a half or so and he'll drill out holes for the remaining screws for the blades -- I need to skate in them as-is for a while to get them settled.

After all that I went and got my admission for the public session around 3:15 and went and put my skates on. As I'd read, I didn't lace them all the way to the top. The ice was pretty crowded (lots of kids) and the ice was really, really beat-up; the worst I've ever seen. Going out with the new skates was definitely an adventure -- they felt very different and I'd never skated with blades with a sharp edge. It took some getting used to. The toepick is a little large than on the rentals I'd had and it did get me a couple of times, I fell once and almost fell a second time. All in all it went very well though -- I stopped frequently to rest and relace my skates.

Around 4:30 or so there was a Z-break. While I was waiting I put my guards on and walked next door to check out rink 2, which is used for a freestyle session at that time. It was really nice over there. There were 2 or 3 skaters working with their coaches. It was colder over there and much quieter. Maybe someday I'll be over there.

After the Z-break there was just 10 or 15 minutes left in the public session... but it was heaven! Fresh ice, and most of the people left at the break so it was down to 8 or 10 people. It was wonderful! I could really feel the edges on my skates. I had tried to do some snowplow stops before but I couldn't quite, but with the fresh ice it was fine. I did about 36 forward swizzles in a row before I got tired of counting and stopped. I also started working on a backward swizzle, and I briefly managed to do two in a row. My left foot toepick seems to be crunching the ice though so I suspect I'm doing it wrong.

My new skates look and feel beauuuuutiful! They make me very happy. I'm really jazzed about it and looking forward to my next skate on Monday.

Sno-Seal And Other Goodies

I stopped off at Big 5 sporting goods today and picked up some kneepads (yea!), some nice gloves to protect my palms (yea!) and a jar of Sno-Seal with which to waterproof my skates. I will do that tonight, so I should get to wear them tomorrow! Yea!

Sixth Lesson - New Skates, New Instructor

I got to the pro shop promptly at 6 p.m. tonight and saw my new skates. They are beautiful! They are heat moldable, so as soon as I got there they stuck them in the "oven" to heat them up. When they were ready (it took ten or fifteen minutes) they took them out and had me put them on & lace them up. I put them on and they felt sooooo good! Very comfy and firm. I know I am going to like these skates. The blades are Ultima Mark IV. It looks offhand like the toepick is about the same size as on the rental skates I've had (which are Mark IIIs) so I don't think that will be a problem. After wearing them for 10 minutes or so and clomping around a bit, it was okay to take them off. While I was waiting I bought some guards and soakers for 'em. They said I can bring 'em in on Friday to get them sharpened and get the remaining screws put in. Tomorrow I can wear them in the house (in the guards of course!) to work on breaking them in.

After putting my skates in the car, I came back and got my rental skates (bleah!) and got warmed up for my lesson. When I called on Monday I was told I would have Anna, but the skate school sheets said I would have Rachel instead. My lesson was okay. Rachel seems very young to me, and I didn't communicate with her as well as with Dawn. I'm hoping that if I have her for the rest of the summer I'll be able to follow better what she is telling me. The woman who was there for my second lesson was back -- she said she had fallen and hurt her head so that was why she had missed. During the lesson I mostly reviewed stuff I'd already learned, plus Rachel showed me how to snowplow stop with one foot, i.e., instead of using both feet to stop, one foot stays straight and the other turns in to stop you. We also worked on my push-off and stroking. Finally, she showed me the backward wiggle again and we talked about it. I'm still not really getting it but I'll work on it some more.

After class and the Z-break, I stayed for an hour or so in the public session. I mostly worked on stroking althought I also worked through most of the stuff I've learned at least a few times. I also tried a couple of one-foot glides, and I may be up to three seconds on that. I felt more confident and happier about things, which was good. I can't wait until I get to use my own skates, which may be as early as Friday afternoon (I'm off early Friday).

I talked with Danni briefly but she forgot to bring the water seal stuff for my boots. Oh well. She said she'd try to bring it Friday. I may try to get some in town before then, or just go ahead and wait. I wanted to get that on before the other screws are put in but that may not be possible.

Finally, I got to introduce myself to a couple of adult skaters that were at the session tonight. One of them, Roxanne, is a Hispanic woman who looks to be mid-30s. She was in the pro shop when I was getting my skates. She has the same model skates (Jackson Freestyle) that I do. She is just getting over an injury (not sure if it was skating related or not) and so was not really skating very energetically; she said she just wanted to be on the ice but needed to take it easy. The other one was the woman I'd seen at my fifth lesson. I took a moment to introduce myself. Her name is Dana. If I recall correctly she said she was taking adult freestyle (already did her basic) but switched to the mixed freestyle because the adult moved too slowly and she was frustrated. I think she said that she is taking private lessons now, but I got a little confused on that. I'm still not sure how old she is but I'd guess between 22 and 29. I know, a big range. She skates very nicely -- not flashy, but elegant and graceful. It's fun to watch. She said that she'd watch me skate and that I am doing better than most of the people in her Basic class were at this point, which is a nice compliment. There's a certain camaraderie that I'm beginning to enjoy about being at the rink and getting to know people -- a feeling of belonging. I like it.

Skates Are In!

I called the pro shop today, and my skates are in! I'm getting them fitted tomorrow at 6. Yea!

I did some digging around and found Jackson Skates's page on care and maintenance of skates. Sure enough, Danni was right:

"Leather soles and heels should be waterproofed prior to installation of blade for best results.Also this maintenance should be continued periodically to stop water penetration into the leather and possible leather rot. "

I'm a little scared to do this, because I will have to take the blades off to do it... but it needs to be done to take care of my skates, so I will.

Rental Skates! Yechh!

I went to the public session tonight to practice. I didn't get there until about 8, and I stayed for just an hour or so.

The skates I got tonight had to have been the dullest I've ever had. I would be gliding (gliding!) around corners and my right skate would be sliding across the ice. Sheesh! Doing even swizzles was a little challenging in these things. It made me think of the Tom Hanks movie "Castaway", where he finds some skates that wash up on the beach and he uses them to cut things, shave, etc. If he'd had skates like these he'd have starved to death.

I managed to work on most of my basic skills -- two foot glide, snowplow stop (difficult), swizzles, rocking horse. I still don't know what the backward wiggle is supposed to be. I also tried a one foot glide a couple of times and still can only do it for about 2 seconds. I also tried gliding backwards on two feet, pushing off from the boards. It was okay but scary.

I think one of the things I want to work on in my last three lessons is just basic stroking and moving around the ice. It really bugs me that I can do all these complicated things but your average teenager who just hopped on skates can move around the rink better than me.

I'm also thinking maybe I should get some kneepads -- not my incredible heavy-duty industrial strength kneepads I use for rollerblading, but just some basic ones to cushion the falls I know I will have. I think my two basic problems right now are fear (still, of course) and that I'm too tight, too tense. I need to loosen up and relax a bit. I'm not sure how to do that, since it's a basic personality trait for me; I find it hard to loosen up in pretty much any circumstances. I'll have to think about that one.

I had a nice talk with Danni (Heather's mom). She asked me when my skates were coming in and I told her tomorrow. She told me I would need to waterproof the leather soles on my skates. I don't know anything about that and would appreciate some input on the subject -- please email me or comment!

New Instructor

I finally got a chance to talk to someone at Gateway about the instructor situation. I was told that I will be taught by Anna starting Wednesday. Apparently she is one of the regular instructors.

While I had the manager on the phone I asked him about the free public skate issue and told him that I thought it was a bad idea to make people use their free skate on their lesson day. He listened and suggested I talk with him and/or the skate school manager about it when I'm there on Wednesday. I guess that's positive.

Small Stuff

As I had feared, the Gateway website was updated yesterday to say that you get a public session either before or after class. Grr.

I had printed out the Basic Eights program from the Figure Skater's Website using the nice PDF file. I took it to Kinko's after church this morning, printed it out nice blue cardstock, and laminated it so I can carry it around with me. It's pretty neat.

My skates are supposed to be in on Tuesday, but I don't know if that means I'll get them Tuesday or Wednesday. When I had called before he said I'd have to schedule a fitting and mentioned something about skate school on Wednesday, so maybe they are thinking I'll just get them fitted before my lesson Wednesday. Hm.

I am thinking there are some basic little things I need to get -- a skate bag, some terry soakers for my skates, etc. It's kind of fun getting accessories!

Adult 1 vs. Basic 1?

Okay, now I'm confused. I blogged about the USFSA Basic Eights curriculum a while back. As far as I can see that is what I'm being taught by. In looking around the Figure Skater's Website, though, I came across the Basic Adult curriculum. This curriculum is only 4 steps long instead of 8. The Adult 1 curriculum is:

• Falling and recovery
  
• Forward strides and glides
  
• Forward swizzles (4-6 in a row)
  
• Backward skating
  
• Backward swizzles (4-6 in a row)
  
• Forward one-foot glides (one times the skater's height, R&L)
  
• Two-foot turns in place
  
• Snowplow stops (R or L)
  
• Forward curves on 2 feet
  
• Forward 1/2 swizzle pumps on a circle (CW & CCW)
  
• Forward chassé on a circle (both directions)
  

If I were going by this curriculum, I have a lot to do since I'd only have 3 lessons to get the forward one-foot glide, the backward skating, the backward swizzles, the forward 1/2 swizzle pumps and the forward chassé. I at least know what all of these things are, except the forward chassé. I'll have to look this one up.

There are some things in the Basic 1 I've learned that are not part of Adult 1 (rocking horse and backward wiggle). They are not bad things to know, since to do the rocking horse I have to do a backward swizzle which I had to learn anyway. I'm just a bit confused about the whole thing. I suppose the answer would probably be that I should just learn what I want/need to learn anyway. If I were truly able to learn at the Basic Adult curriculum pace I'd be done with the basics in only 8 months instead of 16, which is obviously quite a big difference. I'll have to ask around about this and look some more at the Gateway website.

Fifth Lesson

Tonight's lesson was disappointing in most respects. I expected to have Linda as my instructor, taking over for Dawn who's gone for the summer. Instead, Linda was not there and no one seemed to have a clue what was going on, so they sent out one of the front desk people to "instruct" me. She was nice and all, but she's a hockey player and hasn't even WORN figure skates. This is so wrong. Anyway, I decided to try to make the best of it and we futzed around with various things I'd been introduced to last week or previously until 28 minutes were up and she zipped off, much relieved.

After she left, and the obligatory Zamboni break, I started working on my rocking horse (the backward/forward swizzle combination). After much messing around I finally got the hang of it and practiced it for a while. I was really pleased to have accomplished something. I spent the rest of my practice time working on various things, including trying to go a bit faster and feeling more comfortable with speed. I also worked on my forward swizzles and those are good. I tried a couple of one-foot glides but didn't make any real progress on that. I stayed 'til about 8:30, so about an hour's worth of skating after my lesson. My rental skates today were... not the worst I've had, but not good either. I'll be so glad when I get my own skates! As it was I couldn't really work my snowplow stops, they were so miserable.

I was talking with some of the skater moms during the Z-break. They said that Gateway is apparently changing the free-skate policy, although no one mentioned it to me. In the past (not that I have much of a past, here, but I digress) you got a free public session for each lesson, which you could use at any of the public sessions; this is in addition to getting to stay and skate after your lesson. I've been using this for my practice sessions as has everyone else. They are saying now that they will make you use that free session on the same day as your lesson, which makes it pointless. If this is true it's really going to burn me up, it is stupid and pointless.

The problem/point is, Gateway is THE ONLY RINK IN TUCSON. That means that they can do what they want. One would think they would value their steady customers, i.e. people in skate school etc. Instead, it appears that they want to milk the "steady" revenue, figuring we have no place else to go. Well, that's true, but for some people this is an instant extra $20 ($28 in my case) a month, which might just be too much for many. It's too bad. It's possible I'm wrong, I'll have to check on it tomorrow.

The public session was pretty crowded tonight. There was one older figure skater working on a program, it seemed. I couldn't really tell how old she was, she could be 22 or 32 for all I can see. I felt sorry for her, it was too crowded for her to really accomplish much. At one point she was at center ice trying to work on some spins and turns but the hockey boys (Lord, how I loathe them!) kept zipping close by her at high speed, effectively preventing her from working much. Yes, I know they paid just as much as she did, but it wouldn't have been a big sacrifice for them to give her some space. It's too bad.

I had another fall tonight, again one that didn't hurt -- well, not much. I was working on going a little faster and at some point I lost my balance and fell forward (hurray, forward!) on my hands and knees. Since I was going a bit faster than the last forward fall I had, I went zipping across the ice (f=ma and all that, thank you Mr. Newton) and I subtracted a little skin from the palms of my hands. Not enough to bleed, just enough to hurt a little. Note to Self: There's a reason those figger skaters be wearin' gloves. It's not just to keep their hands warm (my hands don't get cold), it's because they expect to fall! I need to go get some gloves.

Skates Next Tuesday

I just got off the phone with the pro shop. My skates will be in next Tuesday. Ack! I can't wait that long...

Sick

Alas, I've been sick since last night so no skating for me tonight. I sure hope I am better before my lesson Wednesday!