Lockout Silver Linings
I certainly can’t be the only one who’s thought of “what I will do” if there’s a lockout come September 15th. Usually you see “I’ll follow the AHL” or some other hockey league, something I hope to cover in an article on hockeyfights.com soon, but I’m starting to think of the things outside hockey that I may be able to accomplish with more free time.
Like any hockey website owner, my site(s) eat tons of my time in-season. Generally I check the forums a bit more, but watching games nightly and recapping so much afterwards leaves me little free time, besides sleeping much less.
Web work.
So what can I possibly do with more free time? Well, first off, it’ll allow me to finally finish some other sites. The Ice Block is still in beta, something I need to complete - but even after completed - it’s another hockey site! So scrap that for a moment. Same goes for yet another hockey site I have planned. KO Corner never got the attention it deserved and now that I’ve finally been able to reprogram it a bit, I hope to make that a little more robust, however some of that may happen within a week or so. I have one more sports site planned, centered around a few sports and a lot of statistic referencing. Should be fun, but I’m not completely motivated about it yet. Lastly, I have one completely non-sports related site coming up. Zero work has been done on it and I’m just waiting to see if I get the domain name I want. If so, I’ll be moving on that fast and it will eat up a lot of my time during the initial build. After that, little maintenence required.
Still have to things to do.
However, no hockey doesn’t mean no working on a hockey site. There will be the fun “he said/she said” press releases from the NHL and NHLPA to post, and I’ll be writing more thoughts on the subject I’m sure. I’ll also conduct some interviews and keep backtracking on the fight log (something that is more complete then what is shown on the site). Make some video clips and keep the site moving forward until the day we have our game back. Programming-wise, I have a decent amount I’ve been wanting to do on HF for a while. I’ve been re-doing the html of most pages, but it’s a pretty slow process. After that I want to add a few new features and integrate more into the forums (for login purposes). Add that stuff to the content additions and it’s enough to keep someone busy for a long time.
What hockey do I have left?
Being in the NY metro area actually leaves me with few local hockey options. There aren’t any minor league teams that play close to NYC. The AHL has the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, but that’s not exactly around the corner. I’d love to go to a few games as I’m an Islanders fan, but I know it’s not an easy trip from here. The ECHL has the Trenton Titans, the former Islanders’ ECHL affiliate (their new affiliate being the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies, a former Rangers affiliate). Not close either. The UHL expanded to Danbury, CT with the Thrashers, but that’s another one that would be a good day trip. Plus, I still happen to be bitter that the UHL seems to be the only minor league that doesn’t feel like putting me on their press release list. I will check out some Central Hockey League games on chltv.com. I caught a few last year and the games can certainly be entertaining (something I’ll be sure to mention in a “hockey alternatives” article).
Outside my tech-sport world (kinda).
So, more (“for fun”) programming, still some hockey - but that’s not going to eat up my time completely, nor should I want it to. Non-work things I want to do with more free time:
- Sleep more - don’t know if I can, but I’ll try
- Play more video games - yup, this is seriously something I want to do more of. There’s a lot of fun stuff out there and I’ve got the consoles, so why not?
- Go to more movies - we watch a decent amount on tv, but going to the theatre is usually more fun. I certainly want to catch more indie films like I used to.
- Don’t get any more pets - we have a zoo already, it’s always good to remind youself that you don’t need anymore
If the whether is right, I’d like to go to the zoo, which brings me to… - See some NY stuff - I live here, so why not. Outside of going to the Museum of Natural History (last year), we haven’t done many NYC-only things.
- Read a book - yup, I’m going to read one. Not since Charlotte’s Web have pages been so scared.
- Start working out again - it’s rough going from gymrat to, well, gymnothing, but I did it and if I can find some sort of middle ground, I’d be quite happy. Maybe reading Jeremy’s posts will help inspire me to start going again.
- Clear out my inbox - this may be near-impossible, but if I can get it down to 10 emails, that’d be saying something (as I normally have 75-100 to respond to). No hockey season will help it from filling up too quickly.
- Write more - whether it be for one of my sites, this blog, whatever. Just keep writing.
- Take a trip easier - I’m never one for easy travel. I always think of all the things I have to do back home. Not having to closely watch a website or two (and respond to a gazillion emails) will make the time off less stressful.
- Try not to do too much - while I’d love to take advantage of every free minute, I just need to relax more. Go grab a drink after work with friends I haven’t seen in a while, go do nothing at someone else’s apartment. The little things can be big, should just start there.
Hell, I could probably go on forever switching between specific events and generalized things I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. My assumption is everyone’s got some sort of list of things they’ve been meaning to do. So hockey fans - this is your chance to do it, and instead of mourning what may be the loss of a season (and the sport as you know it), go make your own list and just see this as some sort of opportunity to check a few things off from it.
Comments:
Doesn’t the NHL know that I practically live around the corner from Arrowhead Pond?! I was so looking forward to seeing some games in person this year! I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but the cynic in me thinks the lockout is going to happen - it’s just a matter of how long it’s going to last…..
Posted by Wendy on Sep 13, 2004 at 07:09 PMUnfortunately a lockout is almost a given. While a lot of people are thinking about a half-season, as they had in 1994-95, I don’t even know if that’s going to happen (because that time the owners basically gave in). I doubt we’ll see much, if any, movement in the owners’ position and it may take a whole season for the players to find out that the owners aren’t going to cave.
In this time all the revenue they’re arguing over will dwindle away as they lose more and more fans everyday (because hockey is a purely ticket/merchandise driven product, they don’t have the NFL’s tv money).
The Ice Dogs might not be too far from you. See them while you can too, as they are often mentioned in the hockey deathpool report.
Posted by VodkaFish on Sep 13, 2004 at 07:09 PMYou are welcome to come visit your friend in Medford Lakes, NJ - eat some food, drink some beers, do lake things, etc.
Posted by Van on Sep 14, 2004 at 11:09 AMGreat blog here! Especially with the hockey content. The UHL’s Adirondak Frostbite play in Glens Falls, NY. They are also owned by Barry Melrose! Is that close enough for you?
——-Posted by Michael on Oct 11, 2004 at 07:10 PM
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