Ladies' Night!

Luckily, there doesn't seem to be the whining and complaining going on with the ladies that we saw with the men and ice dancers. Thank goodness. Although that may have something to do with the fact that the closest Russian to the podium was in 9th place with a gap of about 50 points between her and the leader. Okay, that was slightly tacky, but come on they were asking for it! :) So here's what I thought of last night's top performances.

Rachael Flatt--Of all the skaters they aired tonight, Rachael to me is the only one with the typical skater's build and I think it looks much more natural. I thought she was great, and I loved her program. I didn't see any reason for her to be scored so low, though it was a personal best. I was watching the online scoring sheets live, but there was a glitch and hers got skipped so I don't know what the deductions were. She ended up in 7th place, which I'm not sure I agree with completely. She was in 5th, and I expected her to end up anywhere for 4th to 6th. I watched the girl from Finland that placed ahead of her and scored higher in the free skate (online, since they didn't air her), and I still don't understand how that happened. Rachael looked much better to me, but I still applaud her accomplishment!

Kim Yu-Na--This girl is freaking crazy gorgeous before she even starts to skate, and then when she skates it gets even better! I have no idea how these tall skinny girls manage to have enough power to skate like that, but good for her! Not to mention she has ridiculous pressure from her country and she was still amazing! She can't even train in her own country because of all the pressure and people following her. She had every right to cry those tears of joy, and she should be proud of what she accomplished. Wow! And she set all kinds of records with her scores, and she's only 19! I wouldn't be surprised if she's back in four years and still be amazing!

Mao Asada--First of all, I have to say congrats on the three triple axels. The second bit of skating history made tonight. That being said, I didn't think she performed as well, and honestly I think the judges could've deducted more and not been faulted for it. But that's just me. I feel sorry for her that her country will be so upset with her less-than-flawless performance, and I think it is wrong of them, but that's the cultural difference between USA and Japan. I think she deserves to be proud of her entire Olympic performance and to enjoy the moment. She obviously wasn't.

Joannie Rochette--OMG cry-fest! I guess this drama replaces the other needless drama the other competitions had. Honestly, this girl is a winner in my book, medal or not. I so wanted her to be perfect, for her. But it doesn't matter, she's a hero in my book anyway and Canada loves her. That being said, she had two beautiful performances and should be so proud of herself. My guess is this is the last we'll see of her, but I would love to be wrong. It was so hard to watch, but at the same time I couldn't tear myself away. She did seem a lot calmer the second night, which I hope isn't what caused her problems, but it was nice to see her succeed.

Mirai Nagasu--She is beautiful!!! I love her! She scared me a few times because she was soo close to the wall, which makes me nervous. And, she spins so fast! In fact, in her short program she actually got a nosebleed from it! Wow! I don't want to sound un-American, but I didn't think we had a chance to medal this Olympics. But after Mao's mistakes, Mirai came out of nowhere and I was so hoping she had enough to pull it off. I was actually a little torn, because that would've knocked Joannie off the podium, but of course my first choice is always an American! Her score sheet came up and she had a few difficulty level 2's instead of the 3's and 4's everyone else had, but no downgrades or deductions. It wasn't quite enough this time, but if she steps those difficulties up and continues to be perfect, she'll be really hard to beat in Russia!

I think all the medals awarded were well-deserved. I really loved having to actual score sheets pop up in front of me, that was cool and everything made sense that way. I love the skating medals' ceremonies--the way they do it right after the competition, right there on the rink. I am so glad I wasn't wearing mascara today, though! Mao did not look happy at all, which is so strange to me. It reminded me of the men's ceremony and the sour face the Russian had. A silver medal is an amazing accomplishment, enjoy it, whether your country will or not! It was nice to see Kim enjoy her gold! She earned it! I wish they could have played Korea's and Canada's anthems though, as an exception.

As in the other post, I mentioned there are some weird things they do now with the new scoring system that to me make things seem less graceful. Some things just don't look as pretty, and I wonder sometimes how they decide which to do. It seems to me like it should be an easy choice, but then they come out with all these weird poses and moves that don't look as good as the ones other skaters choose.
Like this. This is a spiral sequence, which all the girls are required to do. No big deal, really, they just glide across the ice on one foot in a few different poses. Now the one on the left I see quite a few girls do, especially the lower ranked skaters. Which is okay I guess. Looks kinda awkward. The one on the right, almost all of the top girls do. To me, it looks so much more graceful. And, I personally think it shows much more flexibility. Whatever.



This stuff looks awkward too. But I guess they do what makes the judges happy!










Well, I guess that's all for my figure skating talk for a while! Hope you enjoyed my somewhat knowledgeable ramblings! Until next competition!

~B~

What a bunch of crybabies!

I consider myself a pretty avid viewer of figure skating, so I can't help chiming in on all this drama. I know, it's not exactly what you'd call a Texas sport, but I like it. (Don't worry, I'm still a good Texas girl and watch my football just as avidly!) Most years I catch Nationals and Worlds, and of course every Winter Olympics probably since 1988. If I see it on, I watch it, no question--competitive, professional, fundraiser specials, anything. Now, being a Texas girl, I knew there was never a chance of me participating in the sport. I used to tell myself that if I could just learn to spin, I'd be satisfied. To this day, I still haven't done so, but I still really enjoy being a spectator. I am by no means an expert. I can't tell the difference between a triple axel, triple lutz, and a triple toe loop. And honestly, a triple and a quad look pretty much the same to me. But I can tell when they double or single, or land wrong, or are shaky. I can tell when spins don't look right. I can tell when footwork is off, or isn't as difficult. I can see what looks good and what doesn't. I may not see every technical detail that the judges mark, and I'm still struggling with the crazy new system (isn't everyone?), but I know when disasters happen, I know when minor details amount to enough of a difference to affect scores, and I know when things look amazing!

All this to say......what a bunch of crybabies!! All this Russian drama is ridiculous! Guess what? You didn't skate as well! Get over it! It just rubs me the wrong way. It's like football players saying the refs are the reason they lost the game. Or a basketball player saying they missed a free throw because of someone in the stands distracting them. Blaming the system is completely unprofessional and it's not the system's fault. This system is a system based on points, and a shakily landed quad apparently isn't worth as many points as a perfectly, beautifully landed triple. And as far as the ice dancing drama goes, while it hasn't been as loud, it is just as ridiculous. You were out-skated/out-danced. Watching the two original dances side by side, it was obvious that one was much more technically difficult than the other. Plus, you basically cheated with the ropes on your costumes, and because of that now we have to add more rules before the next competition season so that no one seriously injures themselves! And to all the Russians, I don't know what kind of math you do over in Russia, but the rest of the world knows that Level 4 difficulty footwork is worth way more points than dinky simple Level 2 footwork! So quit your whining, and if you want a gold medal, then skate better and earn it!!

Now, I'd hate to end this blog on that negative ranting note, so how about some pictures? This new scoring system has changed some things about skating. Some of them are minor and it's not too big a deal. But a lot of it is not necessarily better. A lot of the skaters now try to put in so many things that earn high difficulty points and then end up not being able to do them, so they score much lower than they're capable of. I think some of the changes have also taken away some of the artistic quality of the skating. Some of the new required elements just don't look as smooth and graceful as I remember skating growing up.

Like this move in pairs. The top move to me is so much prettier, but it has been replaced by the bottom move since the change of the scoring system. It just looks weird!
Um, can you say ouch?! I mean, those blades are sharp!Ok, this is what I was talking about with the cheating ropes and the new rules. The only thing he is holding to keep her in the air is that black rope around her waist. And in the actual program, which I watched, right after this she lets go of his arm. So the only thing keeping her in the air instead of flying to the ice and crashing viciously is that rope around her waist. If that snapped, she'd be in serious trouble. Oh, yeah, and by the way, he's spinning in a circle while they do this.
He throws her so high! The pairs are crazy dangerous, which makes it exciting and scary to watch. And I have to admit I was rooting for this couple because of their story. But also partly because I was pretty sure they could beat Russia, which is always a plus. And the two American pairs really just didn't have the experience this time around to be medal contenders.

Alright, so that's figure skating by me for now. Ladies finish tomorrow night, and if I know my figure skating (which you can judge for yourself) there will be more drama. So maybe I'll post again and nitpick the ladies. But for tonight I think I'm done.

Till next time!

~B~

What's that flaky white stuff falling from the sky?

As a great herald to the beginning of the Winter Olympics, we got about a foot of snow yesterday here in little 'ol Texas. Don't believe me? I figured you might not, so I have proof!!
It was awesome! I have seriously missed real snow since leaving Pennsylvania. I know to a lot of people that deal with it on a fairly consistent basis, that statement may not make much sense. But to me it's a really big deal. When we moved to Pennsylvania when I was ten, I had a lot of firsts. Among them were things like hearing new accents, trying new foods, losing Dr. Pepper, learning new words, experiencing trees change color for fall, and of course SNOW! For five years, I experienced so much that I never imagined was out there and I grew so much being plucked out of my all Texas culture! I really don't think my life would have been the same without those five years out of Texas. Not that we're oblivious to the outside world, we just prefer ours. But living in Pennsylvania, I didn't have the option to prefer my Texas ways, and being forced out of my comfort zone turned out to be really good for me. And since coming back to Texas, there are a lot of things about Pennsylvania that I miss that to most people would probably seem insignificant. And I don't mean the people I met, that's a whole different conversation! I mean things like driving through a tunnel of fall-colored leaves in Valley Forge, building a snow fort with mom's Tupperware, chasing Daisy over the ice because her electric fence stopped working, playing outside all summer when everyone else thought it was hot, walking to the milk store, and having things like hoagies and pierogies on the school lunch menu. So to me it just feels kind of magical to have something from that period of my childhood show up here in Texas. It doesn't happen often, especially on a scale like yesterday's snow. But when it does, it brings back so many happy memories of things I just don't get here. And I like a little magic now and then.

Like the Olympics. Talk about some magic. I am a HUGE fan of the Olympics, so for the next three weeks (I believe) you'll probably be getting a lot of that from me! It is just so cool to me that everybody around the world can put all differences aside and just come together for such a magical experience. I have always loved watching it. Some of you may call me a dork, but that's ok, I've heard it from my family quite a bit, so I'm not offended! I just love it! I'm watching the Opening Ceremonies as I type this blog actually, and I must say I am really enjoying it!

That being said, I don't really feel it's appropriate to gush too much tonight in light of what happened today. If you are on my Facebook, or watched the news at all today, I'm sure you've seen the story of the tragic death of a luge athlete from the country of Georgia. There really isn't much to say except that tonight's dedication of the Ceremonies was very fitting, and that I'm very touched and proud of the rest of the Georgian contingent for staying in the Games and for all the athletes wearing arm bands in his honor. For tonight, as a fan of the Olympics and everything it stands for, I'd like to leave it at this. I was very sad to hear this news, as I'm sure all other athletes and fans were also. My thoughts and prayers for safety are with his family, his countrymen, his fellow athletes, especially those racing on the very track he crashed on, and all those involved in these Olympics. I'm sure they would appreciate your thoughts and prayers as well.

Go Red for Women

Most of you that actually follow me probably know that I've been with my husband since 2001. I've known him and his family for 10 years now. (I just realized as I stopped to count before I typed that, that I've known them for a decade. 10 years of my 23. Wow.) His parents have considered me part of their family probably since that first year we were dating, so obviously we're close. Almost two years ago now, my mother-in-law had a heart attack. It was April 9th. It was raining that day, and I was sitting in Firestone waiting for an oil change. My husband (then fiance) was in Brownwood at school. It was a scary, scary, very long day. Miraculously, a radical treatment was effective, she had a double bypass, a defibrillator put in, and recovered extremely well. So well, in fact, that she was able to attend both my husband's graduation that May and our wedding that June. She was amazing. She even went back to work full time that August. This is the short version, of course. But the important points are that this experience made all of us very aware of the Go Red for Women cause, and we are all so grateful to still have her around and basically back to normal.

Which brings me to Go Red for Women. Friday was Go Red for Women Day, which means you're supposed to wear red to spread awareness about heart disease in women and show your support for the cause. Last year we paid a little more attention, I think because I was involved with a district at the time and it was on their calendar and it's a big influence on the kids when teachers participate in things like that. However, this year it kind of snuck up on us, which is why this post is coming after instead of leading up to the day to get you to participate as well. We still participated though, and next year I will so be on top of things and spreading the word beforehand like a good little supporter!!

So, here's how the day went. Oh, and just FYI, the batteries in the digital camera are "exhausted" and the dumb thing won't come on, and I didn't want to mess with setting up my tripod, learning how to use the self-timer, and waiting for film to get developed, so all of these are with my phone. I know they're not great, but just pretend.
I had some errands to run during the day, and it was pretty chilly Friday, so this was my day look for Go Red. Red sweater, jeans, my cheap red plastic bead jewelry (because it's fun and bold), and my awesome gray boots I got for Christmas that I absolutely looooove!
It was such a nice day, I drove with my window down! I love that! And of course, I had my jams on; that day happened to be Sara Bareilles "Little Voice" and Britney Spears "Circus". Now, I must be very clear here, I DO NOT think it is okay to take pictures with your cell phone while behind the wheel. But, I was in park waiting for a train just outside the neighborhood, so I bent my own rule just a smidge. Seriously though, I was in park or I would not have done this, and if you don't believe me, I have a picture of the train.
That night also happened to be a night that we had tickets to a Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra concert. Friday nights are technically casual at Bass Hall, but we like to get dressed up anyway and make it a fun date night. I made James take a picture of my evening look to compare to my daytime look. Swapped my jeans for gray slacks, traded my boots for cute red flats, added some lipstick, and switched my jewelry to some more sophisticated red and black pieces.Usually this shot would be a lot cleaner, but apparently I need to practice holding my phone a little more steady to take pictures. Ignore the blur, no one else was home to take the picture. The point is we were all dressed up, both in red, and we got to go out!

So that was our Go Red day. Just a little more plugging and then I'll quit, I promise. Heart disease is the number 1 killer of women in America. We also found a Facebook fan page for the cause, which we both added. I also signed up on the official web page to be a part of the cause. You can too here, and it is not required to donate or fundraise to register, but of course if you're able that's great! You get a free red dress pin for signing up, which is the symbol of Go Red. (I think they do this because the red ribbon is already a symbol for AIDS, and the movement is for women, so the dress fits.) You also get access to all the tools on the website, which is backed by the American Heart Association. There's lots of cool stuff there, including heart-healthy recipes, a 12-week plan to get healthy, a heart check-up tool, and fun stuff like shopping! I believe I'll also be getting emails about upcoming events, next year's Go Red day, and such. I unfortunately couldn't donate at the time, but I feel really good about at least participating in this small way! We came so close to losing my mother-in-law to this disease, that I just feel like I can't ignore the fact that we still have her around! At some point I am sure it will become part of our budget to contribute to causes that are close to our hearts (no pun intended), but for now I feel like the least I can do is spread the word and my passion and make other women aware.

So, Mrs. Henderson has officially joined Go Red! I'd love for you to join me!

Did you miss me?

I think my computer is working well enough to call of the hiatus. I hope I'm not jinxing myself saying that. I've had this issue with this laptop before and was told the problem was the actual cord itself, so we bought a new one directly from Dell. However, now that it's repeating itself, I'm wondering how accurate a diagnosis that really was. So, we'll see how it goes.

Anyway, I don't really have time for a real entry at the moment, as I'm trying to knock some emails off my to-do list. They're kind of important, dealing with my grad school application. So, if I finish I might come back. But bedtime has to be early tonight because I actually have a sub job in the morning. I know, shocking. But it's true. Cross your fingers that someone will call me with an interview offer for all the part-time jobs I've been applying for. That's kind of how my luck works so I'm hoping since I won't be able to answer my phone it'll be the day someone chooses to call.

Until I get to actually blog, I'll share a picture. I made this clipboard anticipating having a classroom. It's in storage right now, since that hasn't actually happened. But I'm pretty proud of it and hoping I get to use it soon.