I was walking along the street one early September day and bumped into a friend. She asked me, “how are things going, Lis?” I replied, “I’m great! Yep, great… because… I’m rebuilding!”

You see, once my home team, the Vancouver Canucks went into rebuild mode, I realized that I too, was doing the exact same thing, but with my website. And I’ve learned a few things about this phase, as well. The first thing to do is let everyone know you are rebuilding. Why? It eliminates the pressure and you can fly under the radar! No pressure means more clarity, because you need to be able see what your building. Plus you can use important sounding words like “transition”, or “experimenting”. Or, you can try out phrases like… “It’s a work in progress” or “Not sure what the end result will be, but I am loving the process!”

You find yourself thinking…what if I try this? Or… what if I get rid of that? No worries if it doesn’t work: I’m rebuilding…it’s all good!  However, re-builders know they can’t take things too lightly during this phase because they still need to have a cause and some direction. Remember, everybody in the know will still be standing around and watching, but only keeping an occasional eye on your carpentry skills while their laser beam stares pressure the contenders that have no excuse.
 
The Canucks and I aren’t the only ones in full swing rebuild mode, so are the LA Kings.

Yes, me, the Kings and the Canucks tossed out some old fixtures and kept others. It’s easy to do stuff like that when rebuilding – it’s expected! In fact, when the Kings picked up the Canucks old goal tender, Dan Cloutier and the Canucks old head coach, Marc Crawford, I thought, ah, what a neat spin on the transition; two teams sticking together and helping each other out through the process. Hey, you need to know who your friends are during a rebuild.

As for me, I started with hair first. I decided to keep my hairstyle because it’s totally reliable and looks good. (Very similar to the Kings and the Canucks keeping the Mattiases on their rosters.) I chucked out the old art gallery name, H3 and renamed it “Mesh Galleria Specifica” because I love the word Mesh. I really wanted to make that space, MY space instead of it sounding like an SUV gallery. (Dave Nonis isn’t the only one marking a territory.)  Then I tossed out the layout of my old column page. God love that old column, back spasms and all (kind of like Bertuzzi if you think about it). Then, I added more space for bigger column photos for that “oooh, ahhh great save Luongo!” type of reaction that, go figure, the Canucks decided they wanted to have too.

It’s funny how all three of us thought… “Hey, let’s keep it all in the family”: The Kings brought back Rob Blake and the Canucks called up farm team coach Alain Vigneault and made him the Canucks head coach. Meanwhile I have Hockey & High Heels book alumni, Helen Peterson on guest columnist duties, plus another book alumni, Mark the lawyer from Seattle; will also be a contributing guest very soon. (I know, makes you want to sing…those were the days, huh?)

I decided to have the guys on the crew build this site a message board/ fan forum because people love to talk about hockey, and the more the merrier. I think the construction will be done this week. (Hey…no pressure, guys, it’s a beautiful work in progress!). And last but not least, in the coming soon department… I’ve been experimenting with a little something called Hockey & High Heels TV. Why not? I know some people, I have a camera, been stock piling footage …not sure what the end result will be, but I’m loving the process!