On Sunday morning, we woke up to newspapers at our hotel room doors. On the front page of the sports page was plastered the headline, "Identical Twin Killing" in reference to the twin Olympians who play for North Dakota. Of course they meant that the twins had done the killing and not that the twins were killed like the headline could have been translated. This was only fuel to the fire for the team.

Later that afternoon, the girls showed why were are ranked higher in the nation by beating North Dakota 6 goals to 2 goals.

Given that we couldn't get a flight out on Sunday, we were stuck in North Dakota until Monday evening. The team went out for dinner Sunday night to Applebee's. As is tradition after the last game of the weekend, if it is a team meal, any food is fair game. I had the pulled BBQ beef sandwich (which turned out to be way to spicy for my liking) and the cookie sundae. I really have a hard time passing up what I really want to eat when the food is free. It was also my second to last day before I start my new diet experiment.

On Monday morning, the team had a short but fun practice. There were a bunch of scrimmages and after each scrimmage, the losing team would have to sing or dance or whatever the winning team wanted them to do. Competition in practice increases 10 fold when there is a "punishment" for losing. It makes what is normally boring for me into something fun to watch.

After practice, the coaches set us free in the local mall. For as small as it was (and considering it was Grand Forks) there was still a good store variety. Because it was Monday, though, in the middle of the afternoon, we were the only ones there.

Finally, that evening, it was time to go home. As is always the case with trips, I never want to go home, until I get on the plane. Once I am on the plane, then I just want to get off, even if that means at home. Off of the plane did not come soon enough. Our plane ended up being late to leave in Minneapolis (all the while, we are sitting on the plane). As a result, we are late to get to Boston, and to add insult to injury, it is raining in Boston and there is a line of planes waiting to land. We ended up circling Boston for 45 minutes. The pilot even teased us a couple of times by lowering the plane and then pulling up, over and over. One time, he even went so far as to lower the wheels, only to pull them back up five seconds later and fly back up. Definitely not what I was in the mood for at 11PM after a four day trip.

In the end, I made it out alive, but only 1.3% awake.

Now, for an explanation on my diet experiment. I figured that the off season would be the best time to lean up and start new and healthier eating habits. My plan is to try various popular diets and comment about them on the blog. I will attempt to do each diet for two weeks and then have a few days "off" in between to allow my body to adjust to a new diet. I started my first diet yesterday and have been successful so far. I am doing a vegetarian diet, not to be confuse with vegan diet. I would probably literally starve doing a vegan diet given my low tolerance for green foods. I also just don't feel like I could get all of the nutrients and calories I need from a vegan diet. Granted, it would only be two weeks, but baby steps first. So far, I have been successful in not eating any meat, but its weird having to make a conscious effort to not eat it. I am so used to being able to eat anything and everything in front of me. I have also noticed that I already eat a lot, if not way too many carbs, so when I eat bad, I don't think it is so much of a meat problem. I have a feeling that being a vegetarian for two weeks isn't going to be that hard.