Be Charitable

Dear Gentle Readers,

Yep, long time, no write. Sorry about that, but my life has a way of getting really crazy over summers.

My activities lately have centered around a crap-load of bad news, including a co-worker's death at the end of June, and my great aunt's death last week.

(That image pretty much sums up how I feel over the last two months.)

You have no idea how ready I am for hockey season to really get here. It's such a lovely distraction and wonderful stress reliever.

In Other Headlines...

This blog hit the Terrible Twos yesterday. That's right, hard as it is to believe, the blog is two years old and I'm working out a way to keep it a lot more current than last season. Hint: Weird guest writers repping *gasp* a male perspective and other teams (oh, no!) may make a few appearances.

Plus, I still haven't ruled out a WordPress relocation.

...And Lastly
If you checked out those old posts, have looked at the sidebar, or read the Twitter feed, you know I'm back to my evil, charity/fundraising ways.

I will participate again in the annual AIDS Walk Philly, to be held on Sunday, October 18. AIDS Walk Philly is not just a challenge I find rewarding personally, but it makes a difference to the more than 30,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in the Philadelphia region.

My goal this year is to raise $600. (Last year, my goal was $500 and I raised almost $600 then.) The money raised by AIDS Walk Philly participants goes to regional charities benefiting children, women, and men living with HIV/AIDS here.

I hope you will consider supporting my fundraising goal for this year's charity walk. You can donate online through my participant's page (click on the widget in the sidebar). Donations do qualify for tax-exemption, at least if you're from the U.S.

As with last year's appeal, if you are unable to make a monetary donation, please make a more significant one: donate your time to an HIV/AIDS-related charity or agency near you.

Hoping you had a good Thursday,
Flyers.Femme -

Boo! Hiss! Vacation Over!

I have a lovely employer - meaning the organization, not any specific individual. Quite a few holidays. Generous with vacation time for all staff.

I somewhat abuse those privileges each holiday season, taking two weeks off to visit my parents, my brothers, my sister-in-law, and Baron Diesel von Dieseldorff (my parents' German Shepherd/Great Dane mix). It's wonderful!

I always come back to work relaxed and mostly refreshed. You'll be happy to know that re-entry wasn't nearly as hellacious as it could have been. I worked really hard at pacing myself with my to-do list. Just so I wouldn't look like the freaked-out froggie over there.

Look for me to be back to my semi-regular blogging later this week.

And since I didn't specifically post this wish here - thanks to Justin for putting it up as a comment on my last post - Happy New Year!

Stoked about a game with the boys from work,
Flyers.Femme -

In lieu of a sweater

...or a jersey

In light of (dear) Sami's retirement, I've been dreading the 2008-09 season from a fan gear perspective. I mean, take a look at some of my new choices:

• A Diablito (Homer, I'm still tying to find the positive side of that move! There is one, right?)
• Two Broons + a Baby Broon ('Cause they are the Flyers of the Northeast Division :p )
• An Avalanche (Dude just happens to be from Vantaa, Sami's hometown!)
• Two Kings (CKim and KMS2, give me your 411s on Hersley and Lukacevic.)

So, to fix this sitch, I'm falling back on one of my sweater selection options from last season...namely, buy Tshirts for the player or players I deem worthy of my cold, hard cash.

And you, Gentle Readers, can help in the decision-making process. Vote in my poll. Multiple votes may be cast. Yes, you have to choose from the Flyers listed there*.

Perhaps the top two or three vote-getters will be lucky enough to see Flyers.Femme sporting his name and digits on her back this year.

¡Ciaitos!
Nadine

*If you happen to be one of the Flyers not listed there, sorry! Just remember, if you work hard and bring your all to the games, I may purchase your shirt sometime during the season as well. Or, y'know, you could send me an autographed one. (I wear boys L/XL.)