Wow, and to think I didn't like politics before! Well I guess I still don't really like politics, but if you take it less seriously it is much more entertaining! I actually respect both the people running this year, which means that while I have my preference I will not feel personally offended if the other person wins. So I think it's allowing me to watch the whole back and forth with a little less seriousness and a little more amusement.
So, today McCain chose his VP - Alaska governor Sarah Palin. All I can say is wow. It was well timed, it was a smart pick, and it was exactly what he needed to do to respond Obama's speech last night concerning the need to do something new in Washington. I don't know if I've just been paying more attention so I don't see only the stupid commercials, or if it's just better than it used to be. But, regardless, this is way better than last year. Granted I've still got 2 more months for those stupid commercials to get on my nerves, but now that the Olympics are off I'll be watching less TV. So, onward we go, along the crazy road that is American politics!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Dreams
As an event planner I have to hand it to the Democratic party. They did an impressive job of choosing a week for their convention. Tuesday was the anniversary of Women's Right to Vote and Hillary Clinton spoke. Today is the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's 'I Have a Dream' speech and Barack Obama accepted the democratic party nomination. No matter what party you are from, you have got to admit that is some darn good timing!
I realized that I have never actually read Martin Luther King Jr's speech in its entirety. And so I decided today would be the day. In case you have not, here is a link to the full text. It is well worth the 5 minutes it will take you to read it.
I am generally impressed with people with vision who are dedicated to their dreams. I don't really care if I agree with them, or if I share their goals. The fact that someone can have a dream and hold it so tightly to come across to others as an inspiration is amazing to me. I've only seen a few people that hold my concentration because of their passion and vision. And whether you believe Barack Obama should be the next president or not, I for one am impressed with his passion and vision. I'm glad I stayed up to hear his speech tonight. And I'm glad that it inspired me to finally read Martin Luther King Jr's speech. There are some things in life that you should do and reading the words of someone like Martin Luther King Jr is one of them. The true measure of someone's vision is whether they can inspire vision in others. My main hope for this country is that we have leaders with vision who inspire people with their dreams.
I realized that I have never actually read Martin Luther King Jr's speech in its entirety. And so I decided today would be the day. In case you have not, here is a link to the full text. It is well worth the 5 minutes it will take you to read it.
I am generally impressed with people with vision who are dedicated to their dreams. I don't really care if I agree with them, or if I share their goals. The fact that someone can have a dream and hold it so tightly to come across to others as an inspiration is amazing to me. I've only seen a few people that hold my concentration because of their passion and vision. And whether you believe Barack Obama should be the next president or not, I for one am impressed with his passion and vision. I'm glad I stayed up to hear his speech tonight. And I'm glad that it inspired me to finally read Martin Luther King Jr's speech. There are some things in life that you should do and reading the words of someone like Martin Luther King Jr is one of them. The true measure of someone's vision is whether they can inspire vision in others. My main hope for this country is that we have leaders with vision who inspire people with their dreams.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Always Wear Clean Underwear
Maia always yells at me because I let my car go the whole way to the point where the 'low fuel' light comes on before I get gas. I pretty much figure it's a pain in the butt to stop and get gas, so I may as well ride it out as long as I can before I do. Thankfully I drive a car that gets good gas mileage, so even when my light does go on I've got 35 more miles before my last gallon of gas is gone. And since I work less than 5 miles from my house it's not that big of a deal to go to work still even after the light has been on. Most of the time I've got to drive across town to go to church or for coffee with Andrea so on those trips I'll stop and fill up and we'll be back on our way. This week, however, things didn't work out like that.
Yesterday, Brandy, Sandor and I went over to Sonic to get some lunch (and Brandy the largest cherry coke ever on the face of the earth) before she headed back to NC. As we are sitting there in the pleasant air conditioning eating our lunch my car starts sputtering. I wonder what is happening for about a half second before I realize that the low fuel light has been on since Monday...opps. I had training in Columbia on Wednesday and Thursday so I took the state car home which meant that I didn't drive my car across town that week. And then once I got back all I was doing was quick trips to the store to grab things I forgot when cooking and so I never wanted to stop for gas. Needless to say, my car had run out and we were literally running on fumes.
Thankfully, the gas station was a mere 2 blocks away, so Brandy and I finished eating, grabbed my purse and headed over to buy ourselves a little one gallon tank and fill it up.
Then back to the Saturn we went to transfer the one gallon into the poor car.
The best part of the story, however, can be seen in that last picture. What in world was I wearing, you may ask. Yes, that's a very good question. When we left the house I didn't change out of my pajamas because I had to go lifeguard at a church picnic and I didn't feel like putting my swim suit on just to sit at Sonic for a half hour. So me, in all my wisdom figures that I'll just go eat with Brandy and then when we drop her back off to get her car I'll go in and change into my swim suit and be on my way. Remember how your mom used to always tell you to wear clean underwear because you never know when you are going to be in an accident (well at least mine did), well, you also should never wear your pajamas out when you don't want to walk around in them. So, I got to walk to the gas station and back in a bright yellow Special Olympics shirt with Disney cartoon character shorts.
Yes, I know I was looking might sexy! So, my lesson of the weekend...when your car tells you it's about to be out of gas, listen to it. Although I'm sure that soon enough Maia will get in my car and the low fuel light will be on. Habits are a hard thing to break.
Yesterday, Brandy, Sandor and I went over to Sonic to get some lunch (and Brandy the largest cherry coke ever on the face of the earth) before she headed back to NC. As we are sitting there in the pleasant air conditioning eating our lunch my car starts sputtering. I wonder what is happening for about a half second before I realize that the low fuel light has been on since Monday...opps. I had training in Columbia on Wednesday and Thursday so I took the state car home which meant that I didn't drive my car across town that week. And then once I got back all I was doing was quick trips to the store to grab things I forgot when cooking and so I never wanted to stop for gas. Needless to say, my car had run out and we were literally running on fumes.
Thankfully, the gas station was a mere 2 blocks away, so Brandy and I finished eating, grabbed my purse and headed over to buy ourselves a little one gallon tank and fill it up.
Then back to the Saturn we went to transfer the one gallon into the poor car.
The best part of the story, however, can be seen in that last picture. What in world was I wearing, you may ask. Yes, that's a very good question. When we left the house I didn't change out of my pajamas because I had to go lifeguard at a church picnic and I didn't feel like putting my swim suit on just to sit at Sonic for a half hour. So me, in all my wisdom figures that I'll just go eat with Brandy and then when we drop her back off to get her car I'll go in and change into my swim suit and be on my way. Remember how your mom used to always tell you to wear clean underwear because you never know when you are going to be in an accident (well at least mine did), well, you also should never wear your pajamas out when you don't want to walk around in them. So, I got to walk to the gas station and back in a bright yellow Special Olympics shirt with Disney cartoon character shorts. 
Yes, I know I was looking might sexy! So, my lesson of the weekend...when your car tells you it's about to be out of gas, listen to it. Although I'm sure that soon enough Maia will get in my car and the low fuel light will be on. Habits are a hard thing to break.
So Close!
I got through 16 of the 17 days of Olympics beating my poor body in to the ground with lack of sleep, however last night my body threw in the towel. I'm not sure if it was the 2 straight days of my sister and I scrapbooking and watching Olympics until ungodly hours of the night (we are talking 4am here people, it was absurd), or if it was being 'lifeguard' at a church picnic yesterday which involved me swimming around and climbing in and out of the water onto this water trampoline contraption for 4 hours, or if it was the fact I've been eating horribly because I've been too lazy to sit down and make out a decent grocery list. But regardless of what it was, at 6:30 last night I sat down to watch the end of the Beijing games and never saw a moment of the closing ceremony. There was a volleyball game on so I decided I would take a quick nap until that was over...not so much. I woke up at 9:00, realized I had missed most of the ceremony, turned off the TV, grabbed a pack of ice for my knee that I hurt at some point climbing around and headed to bed. So close to 17 for 17, but my body won out on that decision by not giving me an option to stay up late!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
You Learn Somthing New Everyday
The old adage 'you learn something new everyday' most certainly applies to today. I learned about the Modern Pentathlon today. What is the Modern Pentathlon you say? Good question, I didn't know until about 20 minutes ago either.
The primetime Olympics were showing the US track team totally screwing up the relays so I headed in to check out what was live on the website (as I learned today in my Supervisory Training class this is simply an indication that I am a member of Generation X/Y and have a desperate need to multi-task). One of the live events was the shooting portion of the modern pentathlon. When I actually clicked on the video to watch nothing was happening at that moment so I clicked on the button to get more information on the sport since I really had no idea what it was other than I guessed from the penta- that it was 5 events.
I have now come to find out that the modern pentathlon is 5 events contested in one day:
1. Shooting: Air pistol (20 shots)
2. Fencing: Epee (35 bouts)
3. Swimming: 200m freestyle
4. Equestrian: Show jumping (15 jumps)
5. Running: 3000m (1.82 miles) cross-country
I've got to say that I'm pretty impressed. That is not an easy combination of things to do all in one day, and do well. The women's shooting had just started, so I looked at the historical videos and found the men's equestrian portion to watch for a while. When I started watching it I saw that most of the riders were either knocking down the rails or even falling off their horse! Not something I expected at the Olympics so I started reading through the details of each of the events. I found out thanks to the excellent explanation on the NBC site that the athletes are given 20 minutes to warm up on a horse they have never ridden that is provided for them by the competition organizers. And then they have to convince the horse they have just met to jump over 12 rails with them. No wonder so many horses weren't feeling it - they had just met the person riding on their back asking them to do it.
So I continue reading. The way they determine who wins is by awarding points for each of the first four events and then stagger starting people in the run depending on how many points they have going into it. Hence the person who did the best in the first four events leaves on the run and everyone is staggered behind them with a 1 second delay for every 4 points. The first person to the finish line wins. Super cool event! Where does one get into that I wonder? Hmmm, perhaps I need a new hobby. If nothing else it's a pretty 'name one thing most people don't know about you' answer :)
The primetime Olympics were showing the US track team totally screwing up the relays so I headed in to check out what was live on the website (as I learned today in my Supervisory Training class this is simply an indication that I am a member of Generation X/Y and have a desperate need to multi-task). One of the live events was the shooting portion of the modern pentathlon. When I actually clicked on the video to watch nothing was happening at that moment so I clicked on the button to get more information on the sport since I really had no idea what it was other than I guessed from the penta- that it was 5 events.
I have now come to find out that the modern pentathlon is 5 events contested in one day:
1. Shooting: Air pistol (20 shots)
2. Fencing: Epee (35 bouts)
3. Swimming: 200m freestyle
4. Equestrian: Show jumping (15 jumps)
5. Running: 3000m (1.82 miles) cross-country
I've got to say that I'm pretty impressed. That is not an easy combination of things to do all in one day, and do well. The women's shooting had just started, so I looked at the historical videos and found the men's equestrian portion to watch for a while. When I started watching it I saw that most of the riders were either knocking down the rails or even falling off their horse! Not something I expected at the Olympics so I started reading through the details of each of the events. I found out thanks to the excellent explanation on the NBC site that the athletes are given 20 minutes to warm up on a horse they have never ridden that is provided for them by the competition organizers. And then they have to convince the horse they have just met to jump over 12 rails with them. No wonder so many horses weren't feeling it - they had just met the person riding on their back asking them to do it.
So I continue reading. The way they determine who wins is by awarding points for each of the first four events and then stagger starting people in the run depending on how many points they have going into it. Hence the person who did the best in the first four events leaves on the run and everyone is staggered behind them with a 1 second delay for every 4 points. The first person to the finish line wins. Super cool event! Where does one get into that I wonder? Hmmm, perhaps I need a new hobby. If nothing else it's a pretty 'name one thing most people don't know about you' answer :)
Lemon Meringue Pie
I'm glad that I'm not one to fall into a pessimistic view of the world. I am blessed with being blissfully optimistic, although from time to time even the most optimistic can wane. When life seems to be throwing you curve balls, and very few people around you are getting anything better from the pitcher, you can get a rather depressing view of the world if you let yourself. But, in the end, I remind myself that I know without a shadow of a doubt that there is a reason for it all, and even though it makes absolutely no sense now, there is a much bigger picture that I fit into. It's what faith is really - as Paul says - the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. I sure don't see the big picture, but I know there is one. And my faith that one exists gives substance to my hope.
So, enough of my soapbox, to the point. NBC does these little biography things on some of the athletes. Usually they are the more well known athletes, like my (and the rest of America's) new love Phelps, but some of them are on the 'normal people' in the events (if anyone that has the skill to get to the Olympics is normal). Tonight they did a biography on Natalie duToit. If you didn't see it you missed a moment of seeing what true courage looks like. She lost her leg in an accident, but instead of taking the (justifiable) path of 'well I guess I need to figure out what to do with this new life' path, she decided that she wasn't going to let life get in the way of her dreams. And she trained, qualified and swam at the Olympics (she will also swim in the para-Olympics, but she swam here first). Talk about taking lemons and making lemonade - man, she took lemons and made lemon meringue pie! That is living in faith that your life is more than a bunch of random experiences all lumped together. You can't do something like that without knowing that there is a greater plan and you are not going to let it pass you by. And what happens by her not giving up on the greater plan? I saw it, and how many other people saw it, and the next time we are faced with something we think is insurmountable we have Natalie du Toit and the other inspirational people we've heard about or know to show us that it's worth not giving up and letting life go on without you. Because you never know what you are going to do that you may not have done without that setback, and you never know who you are going to inspire by doing it.
While I like lemon meringue pie, I'm more of a chocolate person, so I think I'll make my life into chocolate mousse!
So, enough of my soapbox, to the point. NBC does these little biography things on some of the athletes. Usually they are the more well known athletes, like my (and the rest of America's) new love Phelps, but some of them are on the 'normal people' in the events (if anyone that has the skill to get to the Olympics is normal). Tonight they did a biography on Natalie duToit. If you didn't see it you missed a moment of seeing what true courage looks like. She lost her leg in an accident, but instead of taking the (justifiable) path of 'well I guess I need to figure out what to do with this new life' path, she decided that she wasn't going to let life get in the way of her dreams. And she trained, qualified and swam at the Olympics (she will also swim in the para-Olympics, but she swam here first). Talk about taking lemons and making lemonade - man, she took lemons and made lemon meringue pie! That is living in faith that your life is more than a bunch of random experiences all lumped together. You can't do something like that without knowing that there is a greater plan and you are not going to let it pass you by. And what happens by her not giving up on the greater plan? I saw it, and how many other people saw it, and the next time we are faced with something we think is insurmountable we have Natalie du Toit and the other inspirational people we've heard about or know to show us that it's worth not giving up and letting life go on without you. Because you never know what you are going to do that you may not have done without that setback, and you never know who you are going to inspire by doing it.
While I like lemon meringue pie, I'm more of a chocolate person, so I think I'll make my life into chocolate mousse!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
From Heartache to Happiness
If there is one thing that is certain about the Olympics, it is that there will be no shortage of extreme emotions. When you only get the chance once every four years, the results just mean that much more. So tonight I went from nearly crying when Lolo Jones hit the next to last hurdle to laughing with delight when Shawn Johnson finally won a gold medal. And I'm just the spectator!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Shock Factor
Everyone always uses the 'eat dessert first, life is uncertain' or 'stop and smell the roses' quotes, but when you are slapped in the face with reality none of those seem to really do life justice. It's amazing how at any moment your entire life can change, and yet we let day after day pass without really prioritizing what we should. So today when I got news of an absolutely horrible car accident it brought back to mind the other moments that I've faced when life suddenly comes to a screeching halt. It does a good job of putting life in perspective. That meeting agenda that seemed so pressing 5 minutes before the call never got done today. The uneventful drive home was more of a blessing than it was yesterday. And kissing my husband hello wasn't just a daily habit. Life has a way of reminding you not to take things for granted every once and a while.
Back in Blonde
It's been many a year since I highlighted my hair. It's just one of those things that falls of the priority list when you are concerned with having enough money to buy groceries and pay the mortgage. So when my mom first offered to pay for a haircut and highlights I wavered, however, I decided that it was about time I went back to the land of the blondes and see how it was doing. I also got a cute little bob while I was at it. So far I'm liking them both :)
Monday, August 18, 2008
A Subjective Mess
Why did I quit doing synchronized swimming? Because I couldn't stand the subjectivity of judged sports. And it's the same reason gymnastics drive me crazy. If you've been following the women's gymnastics you will know what I mean. During all-around competition the Chinese were very clearly being scored higher, even though they were making obvious mistakes. Last night in the vault finals the Chinese gymnast landed on her knees and got 3rd while one of the Americans who landed on her feet, as you are supposed to do got 4th. Tonight the Chinese and American gymnasts tied and somehow based on some weird computer rule the Chinese gymnast won.
The scoring process in itself is subjective enough, but when you add in the fact that the judging is only allowed to be done by countries that do not have finalists you get another layer of absurdity. What you are doing is in essence taking out the judges that actually know what they are doing because their countries produce gymnasts that can final in the Olympics. Let's take tonight's judges for example. 4 of the 6 judges are from countries that have never produced an Olympic medalist in gymnastics. Not this year, or in this event, never. Now, personally that doesn't give me a lot of confidence in their country's judging skills. As far as I see, since they already take out the highest and lowest score leave the judges from China and US and Russia and Romania, who actually know how to produce gymnasts that can win medals in the judging corner. From what we've seen so far this Olympics, the judging can't be any more messed up than it already is.
The scoring process in itself is subjective enough, but when you add in the fact that the judging is only allowed to be done by countries that do not have finalists you get another layer of absurdity. What you are doing is in essence taking out the judges that actually know what they are doing because their countries produce gymnasts that can final in the Olympics. Let's take tonight's judges for example. 4 of the 6 judges are from countries that have never produced an Olympic medalist in gymnastics. Not this year, or in this event, never. Now, personally that doesn't give me a lot of confidence in their country's judging skills. As far as I see, since they already take out the highest and lowest score leave the judges from China and US and Russia and Romania, who actually know how to produce gymnasts that can win medals in the judging corner. From what we've seen so far this Olympics, the judging can't be any more messed up than it already is.
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