Tuesday was a big day. Tuesday was online registration for the adult instructional hockey program at Johnny’s Ice House. I’ve been interested in taking hockey lessons for months. I’d looked into it, and the biggest obstacles were:
1) hockey lessons for adults (rather than children) aren’t common,
2) hockey lessons are expensive, and
3) hockey equipment is really expensive.
Then I met Gizmo. Gizmo is the friend of a friend of a friend… and he’d taken lessons for over a year, and was just starting to play games in an amateur league. He introduced me to a woman on his hockey team who’d also just started playing – as goalie. That meant she had to buy all new goalie hockey equipment, and was selling her regular player equipment. So, I was able to buy most of her equipment. I’ve gotten everything else I need (except socks, my sole outstanding purchase) through various retailers. I was ready and willing – and maybe I’m even able. Now I just needed lessons.
Getting lessons sounds easier than it is. Talking to Gizmo and others, I found out the adult lessons at Johnny’s Ice House sell out in MINUTES. They offer ten-week sessions, and you sign up online. Everyone I talked to said they sell out almost immediately. Gizmo said it took him a year of trying to sign up every ten weeks before he finally got in.
So, needless to say, I was really nervous on Tuesday when the next session opened up. Online registration opened at noon. About 15 minutes before noon, I grabbed my lunch, closed my office door, and went to the website. The registration link wasn’t yet active. I refreshed my screen. Still not active. I took a few bites of my lunch and refreshed. Not active yet. Ran to the restroom. Refreshed. Not yet active.
I switched over to the Internet site for knitters and crocheters, Ravelry.com. I saw someone on the crochet clothing crochet along group had a question about sleeves for a cardigan. I’d never made that cardigan, but I searched through the posts on our forum about that particular sweater, and pointed her to some posts that might answer her question.
About 11:58 per my monitor, I switched back over to Johnny’s site. The link was active! It was active and Hockey 102 was already sold out! I looked over at my phone – 12:02! Oh no! My computer was a few minutes slow!
I clicked the registration link. I held my breath while it seemed to take forever to pull up the next screen. I filled out my information as quickly as I could. I hit “submit”. I waited… I managed to get to the payment screen. I submitted my credit card information. I hit “submit”. I waited. I held my breath. The butterflies in my stomach churned over what I’d eaten.
Did I get in? Maybe. I tried to click on the “check registration” link and it said the server was overwhelmed and to try back later. I checked my email, and there was a payment invoice. That’s promising! I went back to the site, and it said Hockey 101 and 102 were both sold out. I tried the “check registration” link, but the server was still overwhelmed. After what seemed ages (but was really around 10 minutes), the server recovered from the demand of people trying to get into hockey lessons. I checked “check registration” – and there it was! I was in!
I jumped into a coworker’s office, startling him, to declare my success. I called my parents. I posted on Facebook. I was giddy with the possibility of hitting a rubber puck with my new hockey stick.
Lessons start April 12. I’d love to think I’ll be the star of the class. Realistically, given my lack of anything remotely resembling athletic ability, I’ll probably be the worst in the class and fall down a lot. I hope my new helmet works well.
Submitted for publication in the Greeley Citizen
Life of the Lintee Bean 