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.
Phelps-mania
I feel a little guilty being part of Phelps-mania, with all it's crazy obsessiveness, but I feel that I'm at least a bit justified by the fact that a) I knew who Michael Phelps was before all the mania began and b) I swam in high school and college so I would have been watching every waking moment of swimming on the Olympics whether Phelps was winning 8 golds or not. Irregardless of my reasons, I have been swept up in the fun of the fact a swimmer is getting all the attention, and a very grounded one that is swimming for more than just to win gold (if you saw the interview with the guy who won the Men's 100 meter track race vs. the interview with Phelps and his coach you will know what I am comparing him to). I've watched all the interviews, all the short segments, and of course all the races. And by the time he got his eight gold I was quite excited that I had been part of the mass public that followed his every waking moment. I do however have a problem with Phelps-mania as it really minimizes the actual work that went into what he did so that they can maximize the rating. In fact, yesterday as I was browsing the NBC site I saw this picture which I decided pretty much summed up Phelps-mania. Notice you can barely even find where he is in this picture, and notice he is paying attention to his mom and sisters, not the cameras that are trying to crush them.
I also found this incredible picture of the relay exchange between Phelps and Lezak on the last relay. As I looked at this one I decided that while most people would not find this the most interesting of the million pictures of Phelps available, this tops the list for me.
So while I try to not be crazy, I do believe I am a Phelps-addict.
I also found this incredible picture of the relay exchange between Phelps and Lezak on the last relay. As I looked at this one I decided that while most people would not find this the most interesting of the million pictures of Phelps available, this tops the list for me.
So while I try to not be crazy, I do believe I am a Phelps-addict.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Why did the Chicken cross the Road?
So I guess it's about time for the Chicken story. Many of you have either heard of the chicken or have been members of chicken picture taking events. The saga of the chicken began when Jason went to a hockey game and there was this random person with a chicken hand puppet watching the game and very seriously having the chicken watch as well. We were cracking up when he told us the story because apparently he was all about the chicken hand puppet.
A few weeks later Maia e-mailed him to ask him to send a monthly report. Jason thought she was joking so he went online and searched for a picture of a chicken hand puppet and sent it to her as his monthly report. We were very excited to have a chicken face to put with our chicken story and so when Jason went out on the boat for a few days we decided to make a picture with the chicken in it and put it on his desktop for when he came back. So when he got back to the office and started up his computer it began singing the chicken dance and had a picture of the chicken at the 'wedding of the year'.
From there we just went out of control with adding the chicken into as many pictures as we could. He took a hot air balloon ride, hung out by the pool in the Bahamas, went diving, gave awards, joined the crew of The Life Aquatic, performed medical procedures (including a sonogram on Holly before Ellie was born), and performed in the Nutcracker.
At Christmas that year Jason went online and found a place he could buy the same chicken hand puppet we had been using in our pictures. And so instead of adding him into pictures we could actually put him in the picture! He has traveled to Ireland, Hungary, Montana, Texas, Greece, Oregon, all the parks out west, West Virginia, New England, climbed Rainier, and took a cruise to the Caribbean.
The chicken has been rather quiet this year, but judging from the embedded video below, he was apparently practicing and qualifying for the Olympics. I tell you, he is a busy busy chicken! Check out his many travels at The Chicken Website.
A few weeks later Maia e-mailed him to ask him to send a monthly report. Jason thought she was joking so he went online and searched for a picture of a chicken hand puppet and sent it to her as his monthly report. We were very excited to have a chicken face to put with our chicken story and so when Jason went out on the boat for a few days we decided to make a picture with the chicken in it and put it on his desktop for when he came back. So when he got back to the office and started up his computer it began singing the chicken dance and had a picture of the chicken at the 'wedding of the year'.
From there we just went out of control with adding the chicken into as many pictures as we could. He took a hot air balloon ride, hung out by the pool in the Bahamas, went diving, gave awards, joined the crew of The Life Aquatic, performed medical procedures (including a sonogram on Holly before Ellie was born), and performed in the Nutcracker.
At Christmas that year Jason went online and found a place he could buy the same chicken hand puppet we had been using in our pictures. And so instead of adding him into pictures we could actually put him in the picture! He has traveled to Ireland, Hungary, Montana, Texas, Greece, Oregon, all the parks out west, West Virginia, New England, climbed Rainier, and took a cruise to the Caribbean.
The chicken has been rather quiet this year, but judging from the embedded video below, he was apparently practicing and qualifying for the Olympics. I tell you, he is a busy busy chicken! Check out his many travels at The Chicken Website.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Immediate Satisfaction
NBC made a brilliant addition to their coverage of the 2008 Olympics - streaming video. Since we only have one TV station on which to watch the Olympics and have to be in work all day we have a very limited view of the events, seeing only what they show on primetime. I've been wanting to check out the live streaming programs they had online, so tonight while primetime switched to volleyball I checked out what the web had to offer. And it's brilliant!
So far tonight I've watched a bit of whitewater kayak, fencing, greco-roman wrestling, and live water polo. It's awesome. You can choose what you'd like to watch by sport type and see highlights or previously recorded sessions, or you can choose out of the events that are presently live. And, you don't even have to watch just one. You can set the screen up to be showing up to 4 live streaming events at once. Glorious I tell you.
So, if you are feeling the need to catch up on anything check out the NBC site. They may have just what you are looking for. In fact, they may have what you didn't even know you were looking for!
So far tonight I've watched a bit of whitewater kayak, fencing, greco-roman wrestling, and live water polo. It's awesome. You can choose what you'd like to watch by sport type and see highlights or previously recorded sessions, or you can choose out of the events that are presently live. And, you don't even have to watch just one. You can set the screen up to be showing up to 4 live streaming events at once. Glorious I tell you.
So, if you are feeling the need to catch up on anything check out the NBC site. They may have just what you are looking for. In fact, they may have what you didn't even know you were looking for!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Holy hugeness
This is the back of an 18 wheeler. What are those tires even used for?
Mobile post sent by walkerszivak using Utterz.
Replies.Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Not Hard to Translate
The reason I love the Olympics so much is well first, I get to see sports that in general are not important enough to play on the channels you can get with an antenna (yes, we have not joined the cable world -it's either cable or food for the pup, guess who wins). But second, I love to watch people when they win. It doesn't matter what country they are from, it gives me goosebumps to see their faces. Take last night - the Chinese won the men's team gymnastics. Winning the sport that your country loves, in your country, at the Olympics - it doesn't get better than that. And it doesn't take a commentator to tell me what they are saying or thinking - they are saying and thinking exactly what the Americans were the night before when they won their relay. It's one of those things that doesn't need translation - the smile takes care of it.
I found this awesome site today that has incredible pictures of the opening ceremonies. These are just two of my favorite parts of the show...
I love that you can see the guys feet here - I was convinced there was no way that people were doing it because it was so perfect
I found this awesome site today that has incredible pictures of the opening ceremonies. These are just two of my favorite parts of the show...
the drums
I love that you can see the guys feet here - I was convinced there was no way that people were doing it because it was so perfect
Monday, August 11, 2008
Upon Closer Consideration
Upon closer consideration I have determined that my football analogy really doesn't do that race justice. There are far more chances for redemption in a football game than there are in a swimming race, just based on the time factor. While I was laying there trying to fall asleep I started thinking about the fact that if any of the first three swimmers had been just 1 tenth of a second slower the relay would have lost. 1 tenth of a second! That is hitting the turn at not the exact spot, or leaving the block at not the exact moment or starting your kick not quite soon enough. It's minuscule. And for anyone who has not swam competitively, you should watch how they leave the blocks between swimmers, that in itself is an artform. And a very hard one to perfect. So, needless to say I'm still quite excited about last night's swim. I tried to find a video of it, but my work computer blocks streaming videos. It even blocked the main Olympic page - which is actually really well set up. I think this might be a video of the swim however, so give it a try.
In other Olympics news, I was intrigued to hear that the US swept the women's saber fencing on Saturday. That is the kind of stuff I hate about only getting the main channels - you only get to see what they think will draw the biggest crowd, and fencing is likely not it. But anyway, I'm going to get to work now and attempt not to be distracted by what is happening 12 hours away in Beijing.
In other Olympics news, I was intrigued to hear that the US swept the women's saber fencing on Saturday. That is the kind of stuff I hate about only getting the main channels - you only get to see what they think will draw the biggest crowd, and fencing is likely not it. But anyway, I'm going to get to work now and attempt not to be distracted by what is happening 12 hours away in Beijing.
Worth being Tired
I am generally a person that gets to bed at a reasonable hour on nights when I need to wake up early for work the next day. The next 15 days however, I will not be that person. There are a few circumstances that make it worth my while to be tired and the Olympics is on the list. The summer Olympics tops the charts.
Unless you live in a box, which would mean you likely do not check blogs you would know that the opening ceremonies for the Olympics were Friday night. So for the past 2 days I've stayed up until midnight when the prime-time section was over with no big need to get up early. Tonight was a bit different, but it's only every 4 years you can watch 3 hours of gymnastics and swimming with the best of the best, so I generally stay up even though I need to wake up in the morning. And tonight is a very very good example of why.
If you were not one of the millions watching the men's 4 x 100 meter relay last night at 11:35pm you need to get yourself to YouTube or some other place where you can watch it. And you need to watch the entire race. Most likely you will see the last 20 meters of the race if you just watch the morning news, but the last 20 meters does not really do the race justice if you see that only. I still am not calmed down, which is why I'm blogging and not going to sleep. Soon, I'm going to need to go to bed, but I need my heart rate to come down first.
The Americans, who were not favored to win (in fact the announcer stated before the race started that he has done the math over and over and he doesn't see how it is possible the US could beat France), pulled off the most incredible finish I've ever seen. Let's break it down. The top 5 teams, yes five, broke the standing world record. The leading swimmer for the Australians broke the 100 meter record with his first split. The final US swimmer swam the fastest 100 meter relay split ever in history. In doing, he came back from starting a half second behind the France swimmer (who by the way, said at a press conference earlier in the day that they were going to smash the Americans), who was the world record holder. People, if you are not one that follows swimming I can't really explain what coming back from a half second loss is - it's like coming back from a 5 touchdown lead...possibly more seeing as how you are coming back from that while going up against the world record holder. So, let's say it's like a high school football team coming back from a 5 touchdown lead against a pro football team, while all the while playing the best game ever in the history of the sport! You can't beat this stuff!
And this is why I will be staying up until midnight every single night. Because watching that when you already know who wins just does not make you leap out of your seat screaming. And there are few times I find the need to leap out of my seat screaming. Tonight was one. And I will very happily be tired in the morning from having seen that relay in real time. By the way, the opening ceremonies were a site to behold as well. That's another online video that would be worth a visit, but I'd go with the swimming video first. What can I say, I'm a sucker for underdogs.
Unless you live in a box, which would mean you likely do not check blogs you would know that the opening ceremonies for the Olympics were Friday night. So for the past 2 days I've stayed up until midnight when the prime-time section was over with no big need to get up early. Tonight was a bit different, but it's only every 4 years you can watch 3 hours of gymnastics and swimming with the best of the best, so I generally stay up even though I need to wake up in the morning. And tonight is a very very good example of why.
If you were not one of the millions watching the men's 4 x 100 meter relay last night at 11:35pm you need to get yourself to YouTube or some other place where you can watch it. And you need to watch the entire race. Most likely you will see the last 20 meters of the race if you just watch the morning news, but the last 20 meters does not really do the race justice if you see that only. I still am not calmed down, which is why I'm blogging and not going to sleep. Soon, I'm going to need to go to bed, but I need my heart rate to come down first.
The Americans, who were not favored to win (in fact the announcer stated before the race started that he has done the math over and over and he doesn't see how it is possible the US could beat France), pulled off the most incredible finish I've ever seen. Let's break it down. The top 5 teams, yes five, broke the standing world record. The leading swimmer for the Australians broke the 100 meter record with his first split. The final US swimmer swam the fastest 100 meter relay split ever in history. In doing, he came back from starting a half second behind the France swimmer (who by the way, said at a press conference earlier in the day that they were going to smash the Americans), who was the world record holder. People, if you are not one that follows swimming I can't really explain what coming back from a half second loss is - it's like coming back from a 5 touchdown lead...possibly more seeing as how you are coming back from that while going up against the world record holder. So, let's say it's like a high school football team coming back from a 5 touchdown lead against a pro football team, while all the while playing the best game ever in the history of the sport! You can't beat this stuff!
And this is why I will be staying up until midnight every single night. Because watching that when you already know who wins just does not make you leap out of your seat screaming. And there are few times I find the need to leap out of my seat screaming. Tonight was one. And I will very happily be tired in the morning from having seen that relay in real time. By the way, the opening ceremonies were a site to behold as well. That's another online video that would be worth a visit, but I'd go with the swimming video first. What can I say, I'm a sucker for underdogs.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Benefits of harbor front
..you can see the storm coming so you can get out to your car before the rain starts!
Mobile post sent by walkerszivak using Utterz.
Replies.Saturday, August 2, 2008
Home Ec 101
There is a blog titled Home Ec 101, that offers quite interesting tid-bits about random housekeeping and otherwise home ec related topics. I have one for the books...getting wax off of brick. Yes, random. Months ago Sandor and I were burning a candle in the living room and weren't paying attention to the fact that the side of the candle had bent over (the way candles tend to do) and wax was dripping out of the side of it down onto the brick on our fireplace. Due to the fact it was dripping about 4 feet it did this nice splatter pattern on the brick in addition to piling up at the spot where the actual drips were falling.
I knew I could get a good amount of it off by scraping it with a Spackle knife, but after that I was at a loss because there was wax down in all the grooves of the bricks. So, needless to say the wax has sat there on our brick for the past 4 or 5 months - yes we are absurdly lazy when it comes to some things. I hated the look of it, but I didn't really know what to do, and it never rose to the top of the 'need to do now' list, so it just kinda lingered.
Fast forward to this weekend. My parents came in town to do a little beach time before heading to my sister's house to help with some bathroom remodeling. My dad said that he saw on TV a guy that was selling some kind of steamer to lift wax off of surfaces, so we decided to try the iron and see if we could get anywhere. I mean at this point, what can it hurt. So, I scraped off the worst of it, which left it looking like this...
...then we took an old kitchen towel that accidentally got thrown in the darks with a previously unlaundered green blanket (not washing lights with previously unwashed darks is a pretty basic Home Ec rule, but whatever) and the iron on the highest setting...
...and VIOLA! No more wax - it worked perfectly! This is my dad and I looking amazed at all the wax that is now on the towel and not on my brick (ignore the bathing suit we had just come in from swimming and I was going to be teaching lessons in a half hour so I didn't want to bother changing into clothes just to change back into a swim suit).
So, keep that in mind if you ever leave a candle unattended (yes another very basic Home Ec rule) and it drips wax on something. It's nothing an old dish towel and your iron can't handle.
I knew I could get a good amount of it off by scraping it with a Spackle knife, but after that I was at a loss because there was wax down in all the grooves of the bricks. So, needless to say the wax has sat there on our brick for the past 4 or 5 months - yes we are absurdly lazy when it comes to some things. I hated the look of it, but I didn't really know what to do, and it never rose to the top of the 'need to do now' list, so it just kinda lingered.
Fast forward to this weekend. My parents came in town to do a little beach time before heading to my sister's house to help with some bathroom remodeling. My dad said that he saw on TV a guy that was selling some kind of steamer to lift wax off of surfaces, so we decided to try the iron and see if we could get anywhere. I mean at this point, what can it hurt. So, I scraped off the worst of it, which left it looking like this...
...then we took an old kitchen towel that accidentally got thrown in the darks with a previously unlaundered green blanket (not washing lights with previously unwashed darks is a pretty basic Home Ec rule, but whatever) and the iron on the highest setting...
...and VIOLA! No more wax - it worked perfectly! This is my dad and I looking amazed at all the wax that is now on the towel and not on my brick (ignore the bathing suit we had just come in from swimming and I was going to be teaching lessons in a half hour so I didn't want to bother changing into clothes just to change back into a swim suit).
So, keep that in mind if you ever leave a candle unattended (yes another very basic Home Ec rule) and it drips wax on something. It's nothing an old dish towel and your iron can't handle.
Take time to watch the bubbles
I have found myself noticing the little things a lot more often, which I generally feel is a good measure of contentment with life. I would guess it comes with the territory of finally being at peace with what God's doing in my life at present. It took me a while to get here, and I doubt I've actually arrived as much as hit another level that I will eventually need to learn from, but as of right now I'm feeling quite content. And thus when I realized myself noticing little things (like the church steeples from the parking lot or the awesome sky last night) it made me think of all the little things I probably miss along the way when I'm too caught up with trying to make things work out the exact way I intended.
Most people explaining noticing the little things by saying you should 'stop and smell the roses'. I, however, think more along the lines of 'taking time to watch the bubbles'. I used to always love watching the bubbles rise to the surface when I was scuba diving. I don't know why it so amazed me, but it really did. And I noticed that it was on the best dives that I actually took time to do it. You would think that on the best dives I would be too busy paying attention to the fish and crabs and coral and not have time to watch bubbles, but the opposite was true. There were some great dives that I didn't even look at bubbles on, but the best ones were when I was not trying to see as much as possible the whole time I was underwater, but instead I was trying to really see that area. My first dive instructor told us on one of our check out dives to try to pick a spot and watch what comes in and out of it. It was awesome. It was one of those things where you didn't get as much an idea of what the entire area looked like, but you got a better idea of what really was going on. And consequently you saw really cool little things because you weren't busy looking for big flashy stuff. And it always happened that on those dives, where I forced myself to pay attention to little things that I always remembered to look around me instead of just in front of me and looking up was one of those directions.
So, this is what I've seen this week by looking around me and not just in front of me...
this picture was actually taken by Kim who happened to see the same storm coming across the marsh as we did
the sound of fiddler crabs running across the marsh
the smell of chlorine when I stepped in the pool to swim today (the fact I love that smell is left over from swimming days), the sound that shells make when they crunch under your feet (yes another trip to Botany allowed for this one), the total innocence of a 2 year old (one of the little girls in the nursery was walking around in my shoes which were about 10 sizes too big for her chatting away to herself), and that's just the ones that pop to mind. It's really quite amazing to see what you miss if you don't take the time to notice it!
Most people explaining noticing the little things by saying you should 'stop and smell the roses'. I, however, think more along the lines of 'taking time to watch the bubbles'. I used to always love watching the bubbles rise to the surface when I was scuba diving. I don't know why it so amazed me, but it really did. And I noticed that it was on the best dives that I actually took time to do it. You would think that on the best dives I would be too busy paying attention to the fish and crabs and coral and not have time to watch bubbles, but the opposite was true. There were some great dives that I didn't even look at bubbles on, but the best ones were when I was not trying to see as much as possible the whole time I was underwater, but instead I was trying to really see that area. My first dive instructor told us on one of our check out dives to try to pick a spot and watch what comes in and out of it. It was awesome. It was one of those things where you didn't get as much an idea of what the entire area looked like, but you got a better idea of what really was going on. And consequently you saw really cool little things because you weren't busy looking for big flashy stuff. And it always happened that on those dives, where I forced myself to pay attention to little things that I always remembered to look around me instead of just in front of me and looking up was one of those directions.
So, this is what I've seen this week by looking around me and not just in front of me...
all the ants walking one way were carrying eggs and all the ants walking the other way were not carrying anything - Nikole actually pointed out the line of ants crossing the path (my parents are quite good at teaching their kids to slow down and enjoy life)
this picture was actually taken by Kim who happened to see the same storm coming across the marsh as we did
the sound of fiddler crabs running across the marsh
the smell of chlorine when I stepped in the pool to swim today (the fact I love that smell is left over from swimming days), the sound that shells make when they crunch under your feet (yes another trip to Botany allowed for this one), the total innocence of a 2 year old (one of the little girls in the nursery was walking around in my shoes which were about 10 sizes too big for her chatting away to herself), and that's just the ones that pop to mind. It's really quite amazing to see what you miss if you don't take the time to notice it!
We can learn a lot from our pets
While I was working away this morning editing a 60 page report I promised I'd have to someone by Friday afternoon (it became abundantly clear at 4:00 on Friday that Monday morning when they get to work would just have to do) I learned a little something...
...I need to mimic my pets a whole lot more! Lay in the sun...
...and pass out after a good 20 minutes of playing catch...
I guess that's the difference between those that need to pay the bills and those that don't. Although, I think I may just go take a nap anyway (I did in fact finish my 60 pages of editing!).
...I need to mimic my pets a whole lot more! Lay in the sun...
...and pass out after a good 20 minutes of playing catch...
I guess that's the difference between those that need to pay the bills and those that don't. Although, I think I may just go take a nap anyway (I did in fact finish my 60 pages of editing!).
Friday, August 1, 2008
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