Happy New Year

2013

What to do...what to do?

London 2012 Week 1

I received a post request yesterday and since it is London 2012 I thought I'd take a moment to provide my personal recap of the first week.  Lots of stories out there from the obvious to the not and I will hit on a few, in no particular order.  I know there are more stories...the Olympics are all about stories, not just the ones you expect, but the ones you don't see coming.  Hope these at least are as note-worthy as I found them to be (with the exception of #1...that was for my benefit!)

(1) Fencing

I have finally found a sport that I cannot comment on.  There is a suit, a mask, a sword, and French.  That is all I get out of it.  I know when a point happens thanks to the electronic touch monitor, but I never *see* it happen.  The good news is that I never used to actually see the puck during hockey either and now more often than not I can even anticipate a score so there is hope for me at Rio 2016.

(2) Wojdan Shaherkani

At 16 and only a blue belt, she spent just 82 seconds in a judo match before her Olympic appearance was over.  In those seconds, she became the first Saudi woman to compete in the Olympics.  For safety reasons, she was not allowed to compete in an abaya, but did have a sort of a hijab.  It might not have broken down all barriers for women in sports in Saudi Arabia, as this news piece indicates...not everyone was thrilled, but it sure is newsworthy.

(3) Kayla Harrison

Also from judo, Kayla won gold for the USA in the 78kg class.  It was the first gold for US women in judo. That's always a story in and of itself.  Then there is the fact that she is a survivor of sexual abuse, from her first judo coach.

(4) Shin A-Lam

Back to fencing and a ruling that led to a challenge that led to the fencer in question sitting on the piste for almost an hour in tears waiting for the final decision to be made.  Apparently some part of the fancy electronic touch monitoring system mentioned above got stuck, which gave the eventual winner time to get one last point.  Shin A-Lam from South Korea should have moved through to the gold medal round.  She sat on the piste in tears waiting for the decision because to have left would have been admitting defeat.  As it was, she had to come back out moments later where she then lost the bronze medal.

(5) Men's basketball: USA v Nigeria 156-73

I am so not impressed.  I adore Coach K, but there is no way to deny that the USA ran up the score on them.  If the team was so hot that they couldn't miss a thing, then make them take *all* 3-point shots.

(6) Ye Shiwen

Wow...what a 400 individual medley she had...and 200 for that matter!  Honestly, I want to believe it was insanely hard work.  There is this little part of me (still reeling from finally having to admit that Lance Armstrong probably really was a cheat) that thinks it unfathomably that she could pull out a faster finishing split in the event than Ryan Lochte.  Then again, I have seen plenty of swimmers go to a major meet and drop insane amounts of time off their personal best.  There seems to be no proof of doping, so I am going to stick with being amazed.

(7) Ryan Lochte

He had a great meet, but I don't think he had the amazing meet he was hoping for and he knows it.  I look forward to Rio when he can swim without being compared to Phelps.  I don't know if his dry land training was overboard or not.  He doesn't think so.  But for someone who did so much outside of the pool there were many events where he just looked tired in the pool.

(8) Michael Phelps

I can't not talk about him.  He didn't have an amazing meet either.  Still, he came away as the most decorated Olympian ever and the first to three-peat in events.  Make no mistake about it, regardless of overall results, he knew about those records and they are what he was gunning for all along.

(9) Missy Franklin and Rebecca Soni

I don't lump these two together out of disrespect.  I do so because these two...now they both had *amazing* meets.  I still have goosebumps thinking about Soni's sub-2:20 200m breast.  And Missy...I'm not sure what was more fun, watching her swims or soaking up her smile and spirit.

(10) Oscar Pistorius

Track and field has just started and regardless of any future results, I think this is the best story.  Why there was such a "controversy" made of his participation is beyond me.  The simple fact is he is an athlete who has the skills to run with able-bodied competitors.  Let it be.

Sigh. Really?

I swear.  And believe me...I can so swear.  While I will refrain from the actual words, please know Boy Scouts of America that I've got a ton of cuss words coming your way.  Really?  You chose to have a "secret meeting" for the past few years and whomever was in that secret group came up with the brilliant idea that gay boys have no place in the Boy Scouts?

Overall, I don't have a problem with either the Boy or Girl Scouts.  I think that the leadership skills they can create can be amazing.  What is so utterly not amazing is when an entire group of budding leaders are excluded because of sexual orientation.  And the reason?  Because you grown ups are scared.  That's it.  Bottom line.  You are scared.  And for nothing.  You are turning your back on young boys who have the potential to be leaders.  And make no mistake about it...they will become leaders.  Your narrow-minded condemnation will not stop them.  In fact, my guess is some of these young boys that you have just shunned will be the very ones who enact the future change that is so sadly lacking these days.

My New Hero

As Paige can attest, I have been a staunch supporter of Lance Armstrong over the years, including during his 7 Tour de France wins.  I was adamant that he rode clean.  I mean really, as he says all the time, he has had over 500 drug tests during his career and was always clean.  I believed it.

Well, now the US Anti-doping Agency is going after him and hard.  And I still believed in him.  Well, right up until this news came out.  It's not just that two doctors and a trainer from his team were banned for life.  Had it just been that bit of news with no substance I might have set it aside.  But when you read the article...um.  

Just as a for instance:

• “Dr. Ferrari developed a distinctive mixture of testosterone and olive oil to be administered under the tongue to assist in recovery during races and training,” USADA said in its announcement. “Ferrari also advised riders on the use of the banned oxygen enhancer erythropoietin with detailed instructions regarding clearance times, how the EPO drug test worked and how to avoid detection of the drug.”

And for good measure:

• “Dr. Ferrari developed detailed training schedules for riders which included coded symbols designating when EPO should be used and the amount of the drug to inject."

So...what this is telling me is that Lance Armstrong had a Dr. on his team all those years that he was winning.  And this Dr. was insanely good at telling Lance exactly how much EPO or testosterone to take and when exactly to take it in order to make sure that it was clear of his system when he was drug tested.

I told Paige last night that I finally admit that Lance Armstrong is a cheat.

Good news is that today I have found my new hero.  I choose to believe in him now and his words.  Bradley Wiggins is saying all the right things in a way that Lance never did.

Please let it be true...I can't take another cycling cheat in my life.

Brave: An Okie's Review

I've had a bad past two days...none of them related to my age milestone.  Today, we went to see Brave in order to provide me with over 90 minutes of non-negative brooding. It completely succeeded on that front.  Overall, I think Brave fell short a bit.  Now...I am not a movie critic, but keep in mind that my blog title does purport that I can comment on anything so I am standing by that claim.

Maybe I am spoiled.  I think Disney provides me with the best level of anthropomorphic entertainment anywhere around.  The horse in Tangled?  Brilliant!  The chameleon in that movie as well...equally brilliant (I've seen that movie most recently so it is my best current example).  So, when one of the characters Merida turns to when she needs to escape her constrained world is a horse, I expected some humanism in the horse.  And when her mother turns into a bear, I also expect a bit more than what the movie delivered.  I will grant that there were times when Pixar did a great job and recreating the mother and her mannerisms in the bear, but overall...it fell short for me.  And then when Merida's brothers also turned into little bears...well...they looked like Children of the Corn freaky children with large heads and no emotions whatsoever to make me think they were human trapped in a bear body.

So...here is my synopsis.  It is a good movie.  Pixar rarely fails.  What I think I am finding is that either Pixar knocks it out of the park or they fall short in that they don't seem to embrace many of the same features that brings pure Disney animation to life.  As Paige said over a post-movie beer, "I think what I would tell someone asking me about the movie I would tell them that it will probably make you want to call your mother."

Still...it did the trick as far as giving me a much needed break...and sometimes that is all one really wants from a movie.

I agree!

I'm not usually a big fan of Rio Ferdinand, mainly because he plays for Manchester United.  Maybe that is a bit shallow of me, but when it comes to football and my loyalties...well ManU is at the bottom of my list.  Still, I have to give Rio props for his comments as far as the poor line-up choices that Roy made for the England v Italy match.  The only thing missing from his commentary is the fact that Roy put all his money on Rooney and that failed miserably.  And what was worse is that he was never taken off the pitch.

I had told Paige earlier in the day that I didn't want Germany to play Italy in the semifinal and now you know why.  Germany went home, Italy went through...and England is sitting at home as always.

Dogs 101

That's right...on occasion we will watch this show, especially when one of the breeds on point are the whippets.  One of the hey-I-think-you-should-know-about-this tidbits about whippets is that they are not so good with cats.  Well, I would like to say that all three of our whippets are quite kind when it comes to the cats.  In fact, it is usually the cats doling out the beat down.  Three whippets, two cats...uneasy harmony.  It can be done.

The V Word

I do feel that one of my responsibilities as a blogger with no point of view is to send my few and far between readers to a post that I could never manage myself.  If there was ever a blog post that I felt the world needed to see it is this one, which was brought about by the shocking use of the word vagina in a political setting.

Thank you Margaret and Helen.  I think I almost snorted while reading your blog post.

Crisps Ahoy!

I was in Memphis recently for an internal auditor training class.  The instructor travels around the globe to teach this class.  At one point she was talking about Asia.  This is what I heard, “If anyone is ever in Singapore I’d like to place an order for a bag of Walkers blah, blah, blah.”  Okay, so she actually said something more specific than that, but the flavor she mentioned sounded so off the wall I thought her utterly crazy.

Fast forward a few weeks.  Picture me and Paige sitting at the bar at Boyd’s Jig and Reel, our favorite Scottish pub.  I know, it might be hard to conjure such an image…keep trying, it'll come to you.  They have this board next to the bar filled with potato chips.  As I stared at them while sipping my Highland Gaelic Ale it clicked…the bags were Walkers.  I read some of the flavors.  Steak and Onion?  Are you serious?  Brits must be desperate!  And if you really want to see the level of craziness when it come to these snacks have a look here.  

It took another few weeks before we got up the nerve to try the Prawn Cocktail flavor.  Holy cow…tasty!  Moral of this story…you never do know when you will run across something new that will alter your perception of potato chips!  

This Evening's Conversation: 062212

Paige and I have some entertaining conversations.  It is a matter of fact.  While watching the qualifications for the men's 10,000 meter this is the conversation that ensued: (me) I think if you are about to get lapped by the guy who is going to win the qualifications for the Olympics then you should at least move to the outside to let him have the inside lane; (Paige) maybe there are rules about that and they can't move out of the lane they are in; (me) no, there is a set amount of time in any event that you have to stay in your lane...for sprints, you are always in your lane...for longer distances you stay in your lane and then you can break so there are no longer any lane rules...dude getting lapped should have stepped aside.  For a 10,000 meter run there are never any lane rules.

See...I told you...I can comment on anything.  I know my few readers are now already insanely intrigued.

Who Knew?

Okay...so I didn't expect to have two post on my first night, but I did try to warn you that I will comment on just about anything.  Here I sit waiting for Paige to come home from dog-sitting and I found that there isn't a lot on TV on a Friday evening.  What is on right now is the US Track and Field Olympic Trials in Eugene, OR.  Did you all know that they will run track meets in the pouring rain?  I didn't.  Somehow it seems not to be the best of circumstances.  Then again, they will run horse races in the rain and those poor horses and jockeys are running in the mud.  Who knows how many goggles a jockey has to go through during conditions like that.  That's right...you heard me...jockeys wear any number of layers of goggles to help them deal with the dirt getting kicked up into the face as they go along the track.  I only learned that of late and only because Paige's mom is a horse person.  Anyway...at least runners don't have mud in the face.

Welcome to my world...

Hello Okie’s Blog Followers!

My partner, Paige, and I are big fans of “So You Think You Can Dance.”  We are both on the same page when it comes to the name of the show because it tends to make one think of either “America’s Got Talent” or “Dancing with the Stars.”  Thing is, this show is actually all about a mass of insanely talented dancers all hoping for a shot at fame.  Even during the qualifications there are no dancers who make us cringe.  It is simply a matter of one dancer being better than the other and we appreciate the honesty of the show.

All that said, this first post of mine is about the music.  During one of the dances, there was this amazing cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way.”  That song is one of my favorites so I was intrigued.  I tracked it down eventually and found it was done by the singer Lissie.  I promptly went to iTunes and was able to find it.  Of course, I bought it.  From there I found her cover of Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness.”  Oh my goodness.  I could listen to that song many, many times a day.  The music, her voice…they both hit me at a level that I am never able to explain.  There are simply times when I come across something that makes me wish I had the artistic talent it takes to make that form of art come to be.

So…here you have it…my first blog post.  What I am telling you is to look her up.  See what you think of this cover work of hers.  If you like it, keep checking in on me…I might have more for you.  If you don’t, well…keep coming back.  I might just have something for you in the future that you would never expect.