Two Peas in a Pod

Glens Falls Civic Center

With much anticipation and excitement we arrived at the Glens Falls Civic Center at 2:00PM on Thursday, February 18, 2010. We met Dawn in the office, but she was in the middle of some work so we waited out side the office area, where Charlotte was able to run up and down a wide hallway. She must have run up and down about 15 times. Amazing amount of energy!

We had to wait for about little while, but we had no place to be, so we ran back and forth in the hallway.  Running is one of Charlotte’s favorite things to do, and we have enrolled her in “Toddler Track & Field” at the Glens Falls YMCA for the next session.

Adirondack Phantoms logo Locker Room floor

With the arrival of George Sporing, the Adirondack Phantoms Certified Athletic Trainer, we descended into the lower levels of the Civic Center, passing by the visitors locker room, down the hallway behind the Home goal and to the Phantoms Locker Room.

As we came into the locker room, both JoAnn and I were surprised at how spotlessly clean it was.  There is obviously a lot of pride that goes into keeping the locker room absolutely perfect for the guys.  Fantastic to see.  The image on the right is the Adirondack Phantoms logo which is on the floor in the middle of the locker room.  The player never step on this area of the carpet.

We looked around and saw that the guys practice jerseys where hanging in each players locker, along with his skates, gloves, helmet, and other equipment.

Charlotte with the sticks of #16 Patrick Maroon

We then moved into the next room, where the guys sticks are kept.  All of the players numbers where on the wall, with each mans sticks on a set of pegs protruding from the wall.  It was interesting to see the wide variety of sticks.

In the next room, which is the Strength & Conditioning Room, we met Assistant Coach Kjell Samuelsson and Strength & Conditioning Coach, Ryan Podell.  Both were doing a good workout, so we didn’t bug them for long.

We moved on into George Sporing’s “office”, the Athletic Training Room.  This area of the locker room can get quite busy at times, with guys getting banged up out on the ice.  There was load of medical supplies, and two training tables where the guys can be treated.

As we where in here, George put his head around a door in the back of the AT Room, and moments later Coach Greg Gilbert appeared.  This was a great honor to meet the Adirondack Phantoms Head Coach.  This is a man that has 16 seasons of NHL playing experience, and has been a Head Coach in both the AHL and NHL.   He is also the only player in NHL history to have won the Stanley Cup with both the New York Rangers (1994) and the New York Islanders (1982 and 1983).

The Phantoms Entrance onto the ice

Returning back to the main locker room, we proceeded down the “tunnel” to the Phantoms Entrance onto the ice.  We stood by the ice, with a Zamboni laying down a fresh layer of ice ready for tomorrow nights game versus the Hershey Bears (currently in first place in the AHL standings).

This was a great afternoon out, and we want to send out our praise and thanks to George Sporing, Coach Greg Gilbert, Coaches Samuelsson and Podell, and all of the staff and players of the Adirondack Phantoms.  Most importantly, we want to thank Dawn Price for setting this up and giving us the opportunity to have this very special time in the locker room.

Truly a day to remember!

Three girls at Chuck E Cheese's

This evening we traveled down to Latham, NY to Chuck E Cheese’s for a Pizza and Games party hosted by the Starlight Children’s Foundation.  This was much fun and we got to visit with the Roberts Family, friends when we where in-pateint at Albany Medical Center last year with Charlotte’s cancer.  Colbie is a sweet young lady, battling a very serious disease, Mitochondria.  It was so good to see her doing much better than she has been, and it was glorious to see her beautiful smile!!!

We played a bunch of games, won a boat-load of coupons and we gave ours to Colbie as she and Tiffany had enough with ours to get something from the redemption bar.

Daddy took some video on his new cell phone, and some photos too!

Charlotte on Santa's lap

We had a fun filled afternoon at Jillian’s of Albany on North Pearl St, in downtown Albany. Charlotte got to sit on Santa Claus’ lap again, the second time in two days! Wow, that jolly old man does manage to get around!

This time she got a kitchen set with pots an pans. This is great as she is getting a kitchen for Christmas (shhhh!)

They also had air-brush tattoos, a crafts table and caricature drawings. Downstairs in the game room there was pizza and soda, and the games too (but those where really only for the older kids).

Caricature of Charlotte

The caricature was great!

We all had a wonderful afternoon, and much thanks to Shaina Morron and the Albany Branch of The Starlight Children’s Foundation (NY, NJ, CT). Once again a memorable outing we got to share with Charlotte!  Thanks!

lifehacker.com posted: Two things that always seem to be in surplus around the holidays are empty wine bottles and strands of Christmas lights. Turn the two into a novel lamp with this simple hack.

You’ll need a wine bottle, a short strand of Christmas lights—they used a 50 bulb strand for the bottle pictured above—and some basic shop tools like a a drill with a glass drill bit, masking tape, and safety goggles and gloves.

You drill a hole in the side of the bottle near the bottom and feed your lights in through the hole. Plug it in and you’ve got yourself a rather novel little bit of mood lighting. Check out the full tutorial at the link below for tips and tricks on drilling glass.

Have a novel holiday decoration or mood lighting idea? Let’s hear it in the comments.

Sourced from: Tobias’ shared items in Google Reader

Johan Backlund (31)

Well, the Phantoms lost 7-0 to Binghamton Senators on Thanksgiving Day.  Then on Black Friday, they went down 5-1 to Hershey Bears.  Hopefully the latter of a back-to-back series with Hershey on Saturday night will show a little more aggression, some better fore-checking, and seeing the guys move towards the attacker with puck.  Johan Backlund is much better than his 2.79 GAA shows.  Having a bunch of guys that are paid to stop and block shot, paid to take the man to the board, and paid to stand them up at the blue-line, no of whom are doing any of those, you cannot blame to goalie.  A good goalie has good “D” working in front of him.  Sad situation.

But you know what.  These are my Phantoms, and through thick or thin, good or bad, ups and downs, I will support them with all I can.  This is our team Adirondacks, Glens Falls, even Saratoga… Get the hell off your couch and get out and support pro hockey in our town.  I want to see a sellout like last night at every game.  Get behind the team, folks… It’s not hard…