Thursday, November 18, 2010

A Day in the Life of A Hockey Goalie (edit 1)



            The day begins at eight o'clock. After a light breakfast with a glass of tea, he heads to the rink for another day on the job. Once he arrives, he heads to the locker room for the 10 am morning skate. After a light skate, he heads home. Once he gets back home, about seven hours before game time, the preparation begins.
            After having a turkey sandwich with a protein shake, he heads back to sleep until 3:04. When he wakes up, he throws on his suit, eats a PB&J and heads back to the office for the game. At the rink, he completes his routine warm-up, stretches, and focuses on the game ahead. Then, he heads back to the locker room and tapes his sticks. Once his equipment is ready, he puts on his hockey equipment, putting each piece on left to right.
            An hour before game time, the boys hit the ice for warm-ups. When there is a minute and thirty-three seconds remaining in warm-ups, the goalie heads off the ice and back to the locker room. Once it’s game time, the goalie leads his team out onto the ice. He has spent almost eleven hours preparing for this, the big game.
            Each play, he can either make a save or give up a goal, win the game, or lose it, be a hero, or be hated. After a save, the crowd goes wild. After a goal, the crowd boos and chants, "sieve" as they mock the humiliated goalie. As the clock ticks down, the opposing team fires shot after shot, but the goalie comes up big. The buzzer sounds. He gets the win. Preparation was vital to his success. He then heads off the ice, ready to do it all again.

Proper preparation is a vital key to success 

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Side Effects of Simple Questions

When you must work to earn something you desire, that “something” becomes everything. The value of this reward seems much greater when it must be earned as opposed to given away at no cost. This past summer, while working under Peter, a UMBC graduate student, I experienced the most beneficial moment of my educational career. When I had a question, Peter instructed me to answer it for myself. Peter refused to just “give” me an answer. Instead, he challenged me to “earn my knowledge” and from that point on, I worked to find answers to my questions.

"Can you please explain to me how you determined that number?" Little did I know that this simple question would instigate my worst educational experience ever. The question was answered with "Young lady you are very rude! Go to the office!" To this day, I have never quite understood what exactly I said to instigate this outburst. Regardless of her intentions, I was punished for asking a simple question. My self-esteem was shattered, and I have never quite been able to gain the confidence to ask questions.

Word Count: 184