Steve Hymon, the former transportation and City Hall reporter for the Los Angeles Times, has a blog devoted to his crusade — as a 43-year-old novice — to learn to play hockey. He calls it Puck Boy Chronicles and describes the mishaps and pain of learning to play while simultaneously learning to skate at the Pasadena ice rink. Sample: "My skating seems slow and tentativeā¦i.e. I skate like an elephant with half an erection." I confess a soft spot for the topic since my 40th birthday gift to myself was to take up roller hockey.

