I realize that I have been remiss in airing my opinions of the skating competitions of the XX Winter Olympiad. I also realize that where I have been silent, others have stepped into the breach and more than made up for any kind of analysis that I would offer.
Some of them have been good and some of them have been bad.
I think most importantly something has been lost. Athletes gather every four years to test themselves against the cream of countries other than their own. Some countries do very well in very areas and some do not. Hopefully you did your best and you grow from it.
I truly hate that coverage in the US in regards to "Team USA" is that there is something wrong with us and that we should be living up to our hype and the gains made at Salt Lake City.
I think one of the great examples heights of this hubris that we must be so very dominant or else is the case of poor Emily Hughes. At 17, she is supposed to be one of the Holy Trinity of skaters that will retain the dominance of the US women in figure skating. I was very glad when her sister Sarah, the Ladies champion from the 2002 Olympics said that her sister should be focused on having fun and doing her best at her first Olympics-not worrying about rescuing the US' medal count.
I was glad to know at this hour that Shizuka Arakawa won the gold in the free skate.
The last time a Japanese woman won an Olympic medal was in 1992. Her name was Midori Ito and she won the silver in a heavily contested free skate against Kristi Yamaguchi, the American who did win the gold medal. I felt that either Shizuka or Fumie Suguri had a great chance of standing on the podium. I was not quite sure of the medal color.
Sasha Cohen won the silver, which I think will be good for her. She has always been a great short program skater and she has had her moments but if she has ever had a skate where she did not fall, she skated very "thank-lordy" and you would wonder what the outcome would have been had she not skated that way.
When I saw Sasha's free skate at the US nationals, I could see that her program was expertly crafted and she could have "knocked it out of the park." The fact that I credited her with talent says a bit about the fact that while I may not quite like her, I will always give her credit where it is due. Sasha is still young, as are both Kimmie Meisner and Emily Hughes. All three and Michelle Kwan can try for Vancover in 2010.
Irina...I love her and I love her "comeback" (hate the word). That she won bronze after being told more than two years ago that she should consider giving up skating is something to celebrate. That she staved off the anklebiters and held onto bronze at the age of 27 is something to celebrate as well.
I think that we should be happy that our athletes did as well as they could at competition, not bemoaning the fact that we did not win the medal count, especially the gold medal count. I find it interesting that the people with the most criticism about the winter sports-especially figure skating are people who talk a lot about nothing. They barely follow the sports and I wager would not be listed as a donor to any fund for these athletes. Once the games are over, will sports writers who spin out article after article on football, basketball, and baseball even follow Sasha and Emily and Kimmie and Shani and Chad during their regular seasons, which is where they build and hone their amazing skills?
Likely not.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Monday, February 20, 2006
Yet Another Test
the Romantic
Test finished!
your Enneagram type is FOUR.
"I am unique"
Romantics have sensitive feelings and are warm and perceptive.
How to Get Along with Me
Give me plenty of compliments. They mean a lot to me. Be a supportive friend or partner. Help me to learn to love and value myself. Respect me for my special gifts of intuition and vision. Though I don't always want to be cheered up when I'm feeling melancholy, I sometimes like to have someone lighten me up a little. Don't tell me I'm too sensitive or that I'm overreacting!
What I Like About Being a Four
my ability to find meaning in life and to experience feeling at a deep level my ability to establish warm connections with people admiring what is noble, truthful, and beautiful in life my creativity, intuition, and sense of humor being unique and being seen as unique by others having aesthetic sensibilities being able to easily pick up the feelings of people around me What's Hard
About Being a Four
experiencing dark moods of emptiness and despair feelings of self-hatred and shame; believing I don't deserve to be loved feeling guilty when I disappoint people feeling hurt or attacked when someone misundertands me expecting too much from myself and life fearing being abandoned obsessing over resentments longing for what I don't have Fours as Children Often
have active imaginations: play creatively alone or organize playmates in original game s are very sensitive feel that they don't fit in believe they are missing something that other people have attach themselves to idealized teachers, heroes, artists, etc. become antiauthoritarian or rebellious when criticized or not understood feel lonely or abandoned (perhaps as a result of a death or their parents' divorce)
Fours as Parents
help their children become who they really are support their children's creativity and originality are good at helping their children get in touch with their feelings are sometimes overly critical or overly protective are usually very good with children if not too self-absorbed
Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele
The Enneagram Made Easy
Discover the 9 Types of People
HarperSanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages
You are not completely happy with the result?!
Would you rather have chosen:
AY (EIGHT)
CY (SIX)
BX (NINE)
BZ (FIVE)
The Quick and Painless ENNEAGRAM Test
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=12721960859055255705
Test finished!
your Enneagram type is FOUR.
"I am unique"
Romantics have sensitive feelings and are warm and perceptive.
How to Get Along with Me
Give me plenty of compliments. They mean a lot to me. Be a supportive friend or partner. Help me to learn to love and value myself. Respect me for my special gifts of intuition and vision. Though I don't always want to be cheered up when I'm feeling melancholy, I sometimes like to have someone lighten me up a little. Don't tell me I'm too sensitive or that I'm overreacting!
What I Like About Being a Four
my ability to find meaning in life and to experience feeling at a deep level my ability to establish warm connections with people admiring what is noble, truthful, and beautiful in life my creativity, intuition, and sense of humor being unique and being seen as unique by others having aesthetic sensibilities being able to easily pick up the feelings of people around me What's Hard
About Being a Four
experiencing dark moods of emptiness and despair feelings of self-hatred and shame; believing I don't deserve to be loved feeling guilty when I disappoint people feeling hurt or attacked when someone misundertands me expecting too much from myself and life fearing being abandoned obsessing over resentments longing for what I don't have Fours as Children Often
have active imaginations: play creatively alone or organize playmates in original game s are very sensitive feel that they don't fit in believe they are missing something that other people have attach themselves to idealized teachers, heroes, artists, etc. become antiauthoritarian or rebellious when criticized or not understood feel lonely or abandoned (perhaps as a result of a death or their parents' divorce)
Fours as Parents
help their children become who they really are support their children's creativity and originality are good at helping their children get in touch with their feelings are sometimes overly critical or overly protective are usually very good with children if not too self-absorbed
Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele
The Enneagram Made Easy
Discover the 9 Types of People
HarperSanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages
You are not completely happy with the result?!
Would you rather have chosen:
AY (EIGHT)
CY (SIX)
BX (NINE)
BZ (FIVE)
The Quick and Painless ENNEAGRAM Test
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=12721960859055255705
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Thought on McDonalds
Well, I checked McChronicles to what they had been up to lately. Apparently, they have seen the newest tv spots from Mickey D's.
The ads that I have seen have been aired largely during the coverage of the Turin Olympics and feature a plastic Ronald sitting on a park bench and being related to by people from various walks of life. The very first one I saw was a guy who looked like he was Ronald's human teenaged son. He saw Ronald and the resemblance and decided to sit down next to Ronald and adopt the same cross-legged pose. In another, a small child places a scarf around his neck. The one I saw last night featured a little boy providing positive feedback onMcDonalds' french fries.
I have not seen the hamster or the gorilla spots, McChronicles mentioned, though I am sure that will come soon to my area.
Throughout the Olympics so far (McDonalds is a major sponsor), I have seen the usual spots for spicy chicken and probably the most blatant spot that emphasizes the company's Olympic sponsorship-Ronald competing in the figure skating finals.
I imagine since the Carly Peterson debacle, where she as a featured athlete on McDonald's packaging, admitted in an brief interview prior to going to Athens that she did not eat a lot of McDonalds, they have relied on their red headed spokesman to sell their product rather than any Olympians since Mickey D's would likely be verboten on many athlete's diets.
I don't mind the sitting park bench Ronald spots. The ones with the children are cute (which is what they are designed to be). I do agree that they are a bit weird not unlike the plastic faced King of Burger King fame. (Sadly, I remember when the King was a real walking and talking man that turned his ring and magically the children had burgers and fries, their way.)
I do not know that these spots are an effective campaign. Is the point that Ronald relates to everyone? Or is the deeper message that Ronald McDonald the product he represents, McDonalds so entrenched in our psyche that they don't even have to say anything or do anything to get us to schlep to the nearest restaurant...
I grew up with McDonalds like many and have eaten at many of the resturants. As an adult, I tend to care more about the service and the atmosphere, since I am the one buying the food. I have been feeling lately, especially in the Boston area that customer service and cleanliness are dirty words-as if because you are purchasing fast food that you should not expect the basics. To be fair, many of the franchises are not exactly bastions of white collar jobs.
Workers do have to put up with equally rude customers who I feel should be sentenced to work for a fast food restaurant for a month as a way to adjust their attitude. Fast food workers are seen as the bottom of the food chain-somewhere down there with garbage men, maids and administrative assistants. There is even a word-McJob-to describe apparently a class of people that have jobs that are not seen as being important.
A sin really because I always thought that any job that you can do that puts food on the table and does not hurt anyone is a good job and those who hold such a job are deserving of respect.
However, I think that sometimes pride is lost. The some of the restaurants tend to be clean enough just to get over on inspection but not to make you stay there.
I marvel at how this started out as being observations on McDonalds' marketing during the Turin Olympics and has morphed into observations on how some of the restaurants reek of grease and defeat.
I hope that I have opportunity to visit the McDonalds restaurants that have been profiled in McChronicles and I hope that one of them will be in my area.
The ads that I have seen have been aired largely during the coverage of the Turin Olympics and feature a plastic Ronald sitting on a park bench and being related to by people from various walks of life. The very first one I saw was a guy who looked like he was Ronald's human teenaged son. He saw Ronald and the resemblance and decided to sit down next to Ronald and adopt the same cross-legged pose. In another, a small child places a scarf around his neck. The one I saw last night featured a little boy providing positive feedback onMcDonalds' french fries.
I have not seen the hamster or the gorilla spots, McChronicles mentioned, though I am sure that will come soon to my area.
Throughout the Olympics so far (McDonalds is a major sponsor), I have seen the usual spots for spicy chicken and probably the most blatant spot that emphasizes the company's Olympic sponsorship-Ronald competing in the figure skating finals.
I imagine since the Carly Peterson debacle, where she as a featured athlete on McDonald's packaging, admitted in an brief interview prior to going to Athens that she did not eat a lot of McDonalds, they have relied on their red headed spokesman to sell their product rather than any Olympians since Mickey D's would likely be verboten on many athlete's diets.
I don't mind the sitting park bench Ronald spots. The ones with the children are cute (which is what they are designed to be). I do agree that they are a bit weird not unlike the plastic faced King of Burger King fame. (Sadly, I remember when the King was a real walking and talking man that turned his ring and magically the children had burgers and fries, their way.)
I do not know that these spots are an effective campaign. Is the point that Ronald relates to everyone? Or is the deeper message that Ronald McDonald the product he represents, McDonalds so entrenched in our psyche that they don't even have to say anything or do anything to get us to schlep to the nearest restaurant...
I grew up with McDonalds like many and have eaten at many of the resturants. As an adult, I tend to care more about the service and the atmosphere, since I am the one buying the food. I have been feeling lately, especially in the Boston area that customer service and cleanliness are dirty words-as if because you are purchasing fast food that you should not expect the basics. To be fair, many of the franchises are not exactly bastions of white collar jobs.
Workers do have to put up with equally rude customers who I feel should be sentenced to work for a fast food restaurant for a month as a way to adjust their attitude. Fast food workers are seen as the bottom of the food chain-somewhere down there with garbage men, maids and administrative assistants. There is even a word-McJob-to describe apparently a class of people that have jobs that are not seen as being important.
A sin really because I always thought that any job that you can do that puts food on the table and does not hurt anyone is a good job and those who hold such a job are deserving of respect.
However, I think that sometimes pride is lost. The some of the restaurants tend to be clean enough just to get over on inspection but not to make you stay there.
I marvel at how this started out as being observations on McDonalds' marketing during the Turin Olympics and has morphed into observations on how some of the restaurants reek of grease and defeat.
I hope that I have opportunity to visit the McDonalds restaurants that have been profiled in McChronicles and I hope that one of them will be in my area.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Bode
Everyone is talking about Bode Miller.
Bode the prodigy.
Bode the bad boy.
Bode the iconoclast.
Bode the ungrateful.
I read the latest words uttered by and about Bode Miller at Yahoo! Sports and felt that for someone who rejects the limelight and all that it entails, he surely is getting a lot of it.
I was probably the one person who felt that he should not have apologized about the statements that he made on 60 Minutes. I felt that the move was as outdated as requiring female figure skaters to wear the skirt on their skating outfit because a unitard would be "revealing."
I have found him interesting at best. I had heard of him prior to 60 minutes, although I have always been into the women's side of the sport. I completely agree with him in this article that fans and agents can really take the "fun" out of competitive sports. Considering the feeding frenzy that can take place, it is no wonder that it can be hard to find the next generation in anything, willing to put up with such things.
I watched the Today Show yesterday and Matt Lauer asked his guest what was wrong with the US team. I went to myself, "what's wrong with the US team?"
I find the Olympics for the United States to be an interesting paradox. Athletes that compete in sports that don't often get the exposure in the United States that football, baseball and basketball (men's) get are all of a sudden in the spotilight and people who have never followed any of these sports feel qualified to comment on the ups and downs during competition.
People who had no real appreciation of Michelle Kwan's amateur career feel that they can trash talk about her inclusion and withdrawal from the games.
People who think only in terms of medal count or color of medal count are crying about how the United States is not ahead, just like we were in 2002, when the games were in Salt Lake, which is located in the United States.
Bode Miller is somehow unpatriotic and not living up to his potential because he has not hauled in the 5 gold medals that it was forecasted that he would win.
I would be the last person to believe that politics has nothing to do with the Olympics. However, I am a bit disturbed by the image of the United States as a country that is obsessed with winning medals during the Olympics but neglectful of these athletes and these sports in the off years.
If Bode wins his upcoming events, he wins and I am sure that I will watch the medal ceremony. If he doesn't, life goes on. You prepare for the next challenge or you go onto something else.
Bode the prodigy.
Bode the bad boy.
Bode the iconoclast.
Bode the ungrateful.
I read the latest words uttered by and about Bode Miller at Yahoo! Sports and felt that for someone who rejects the limelight and all that it entails, he surely is getting a lot of it.
I was probably the one person who felt that he should not have apologized about the statements that he made on 60 Minutes. I felt that the move was as outdated as requiring female figure skaters to wear the skirt on their skating outfit because a unitard would be "revealing."
I have found him interesting at best. I had heard of him prior to 60 minutes, although I have always been into the women's side of the sport. I completely agree with him in this article that fans and agents can really take the "fun" out of competitive sports. Considering the feeding frenzy that can take place, it is no wonder that it can be hard to find the next generation in anything, willing to put up with such things.
I watched the Today Show yesterday and Matt Lauer asked his guest what was wrong with the US team. I went to myself, "what's wrong with the US team?"
I find the Olympics for the United States to be an interesting paradox. Athletes that compete in sports that don't often get the exposure in the United States that football, baseball and basketball (men's) get are all of a sudden in the spotilight and people who have never followed any of these sports feel qualified to comment on the ups and downs during competition.
People who had no real appreciation of Michelle Kwan's amateur career feel that they can trash talk about her inclusion and withdrawal from the games.
People who think only in terms of medal count or color of medal count are crying about how the United States is not ahead, just like we were in 2002, when the games were in Salt Lake, which is located in the United States.
Bode Miller is somehow unpatriotic and not living up to his potential because he has not hauled in the 5 gold medals that it was forecasted that he would win.
I would be the last person to believe that politics has nothing to do with the Olympics. However, I am a bit disturbed by the image of the United States as a country that is obsessed with winning medals during the Olympics but neglectful of these athletes and these sports in the off years.
If Bode wins his upcoming events, he wins and I am sure that I will watch the medal ceremony. If he doesn't, life goes on. You prepare for the next challenge or you go onto something else.
Life and....
Back on January 1 of this year, I had my tarot done by one of the party people at the New Year's Eve party. (Say that five times fast.)
She did tell me that I can expect a year of ups and downs.
It is the middle of February and I have had more ups and downs than I would like.
Life is like that-full of ups and downs.
The only thing that I can say about my life of ups and downs lately is that:
Talk is cheap, action is priceless.
I have talked about taking action, now it is time to just do it.
I keep seeing daily horoscopes that basically tell me to "quite yer whinin' and get on with it."
I agree and advise others to do the same.
She did tell me that I can expect a year of ups and downs.
It is the middle of February and I have had more ups and downs than I would like.
Life is like that-full of ups and downs.
The only thing that I can say about my life of ups and downs lately is that:
Talk is cheap, action is priceless.
I have talked about taking action, now it is time to just do it.
I keep seeing daily horoscopes that basically tell me to "quite yer whinin' and get on with it."
I agree and advise others to do the same.
Thursday, February 9, 2006
More links that I found
What a great mission for an organization!
Birthday Wishes:
http://www.birthdaywishes.org/pages/1/index.htm
Who knew Jack had a blog?
http://blog.tonyandme.com/
Birthday Wishes:
http://www.birthdaywishes.org/pages/1/index.htm
Who knew Jack had a blog?
http://blog.tonyandme.com/
Wednesday, February 8, 2006
What I did today
- I woke up, which is always good.
- I signed up at BlogHer and hopefully they will add my blog to the blogroll, especially since I added their blogroll to my blog some time ago.
- It looks like any and all plans I made for V-Day are GO.
- I discovered the more I see photos of New Order as they look now, the more I think they are goofy looking, which is not a bad thing but it does make it challenging to read the fan newsletter. Actually I think they always look like naughty boys that got caught at something.**
- I determined that I will see the Grammys because Gorillaz will be in the opening. I don't think that I could sit through the "tribute" to Sly. The Clash tribute and the Funk tribute were all right. I did concede that Bruce Springsteen and the boys' rendition of "London Calling" was actually good.**
- I decided that I will not waver in my decision to homeschool any future children that I have after hearing about the 6 year old that was suspended for sexual harrassment. **
- I will totally outline what my funeral service will look like and list what will be allowed and what will not be allowed.**
**=Topics I will expand on either later on today or tomorrow.
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