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 I felt that the move was as outdated as requiring female figure skaters to wear the skirt on their skating outfit because a unitard would be "revealing."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.

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.

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/

Random things

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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.

Grade School/High School Revisited

One of the things that I hated about grade school and high school is the whole "one person ruining it for everyone else" scenario that teachers seemed fond of enacting. One person coould not be quiet so no one gets the treat. Sometimes the offender would just go ahead and ruin it for everyone because they have nothing to lose.

Flashforward to 2006: I read a blog at Alter Peek that informs me that prior to tonight's State of the Union address the Republicans and the Democrats have been using Wikipedia to shore up their positions by shaping entries to suit their positions. Apparently the Republicans in particular have been adding slanderous information against the Democrats and taking out anything that criticizes the current administration's policies.

Gadzooks.

I would be the first to say that Wikipedia is not the end-all in terms of a resources for researchers but it is a good start and it is a great idea. Why does anyone from either side feel the need to tamper with it?

If your political platform is sound, you don't need to stoop to such behaviour to win your position. That kind of behaviour is what takes place in grade school and high school.

So now it seems that both parties have made it rotten for everyone.

Sites that I go to from time to time-2

I happened across this cool customer-driven blog about customer service at everyone's favorite fast food chain-McDonalds:

McChronicles
http://mcchronicles.blogspot.com/

It is not a blog that just engages in bashing what is amounts to a state religion in the United States and the rest of the world. It also highlights McDonalds restaurants that get it right. This blog also includes photos to illustrate its commentary.


Not to be outdone, joining the bandwagon of business blogs that are usually about reinforcing the "brand" of the company is McDonalds. Their blog can be found here.