Take shots! 11! He Shoots! He Scores!!

I have a confession to make: I am a hockey fan. My affliction began with a fateful playoff game in 1998, when I bought a single ticket to the first round of the San Jose Sharks vs. the Dallas Stars and watched Andrei Zyuzin win it in overtime. When I could not get tickets for the next round, I bought season tickets for the next year to guarantee playoff tickets.

So began five years of season-ticket-holder fun, the residue of which is being felt today with nightly indulgences in Center Ice. My husband is currently obsessed with the World Junior Championship tournament, meaning that most of our waking moments are spent watching the NHL Network or live feeds from other rinks around the country. My two year old son already knows the word "hockey" and can recognize it instantly.

I even tried playing it, but it's too time-consuming and expensive to find the right equipment and get ice time. But I do get to belong to what feels like an exclusive club - in the US anyway - of people who can talk comprehensively about the game.

I don't get to see the Sharks much now that we're on the East Coast, and they play half of their games at 10:30. But every once in a while, I get to hear the greatest play-by-play team in the world, Randy and Drew.

And now, I am agog about Claude Lemieux clearing waivers today. Wha??? The guy was mean in his prime, but he started in the league in 1983.

Not everyone can be Jeremy Roenick.

There are no random events.

In my new role in a new industry (to me, anyway), I am doing a lot of research into efficient and cost-effective ways to get the word out. While reading an ancient book - publication date, 2002 - about email marketing, I came across a sample of an email newsletter that was cited as an effective way to keep a reader's interest and decrease the number of opt-outs.

Lo and behold, the sample included mentions of BroadVision and Inktomi, two players that were prevalent in my previous life. Fair enough, most people have heard of these two companies, particularly since Inktomi did some eye-catching TV and print ads back in the day...but then the article in this newsletter also made mention of my employer for eight years, the now-defunct enterprise search company, Verity, Inc.

Whaa? No one has ever heard of them outside of the industry. I mean, come on now. That's like finding out that the former CEO of Verity, whom I knew very well, was working on a new web project in LA with my younger brother a few years back. Honestly! What are the chances?

There are no random events. Obviously, all roads lead back to me.

Happy Holidays!

Just wanted to share the fantastic picture featured today on Seth Godin's blog.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Where in 2009?

2008 was interesting. In both senses of the word, positively and negatively.

Moved back to my hometown (that's a whole other long, intense story); spent 8 months looking for work before landing a great opportunity with a new technology and industry to learn about; celebrated my son's 2nd birthday; participated in a landmark election; watched the economy go down the tubes.

Turning toward 2009, it can only get better, right?

Then again, given this year's bevy of surprises, who's to say what will happen?