i visited my fake husband at work yesterday. it was really nice to see him in his element.
in unrelated news, what is UP with all the rain but the general lack of nasty humidity in nyc these days? i am loving it. today i celebrated the lack of nasty by spending a few hours at the boat pond in central park. it was relaxing and, well, more relaxing. also, there was a guy there who made it his business to belch as loudly as possible every 10 or so minutes. to be honest, i was both grossed out and impressed by the distance the belches traveled. i guess if you're gonna do it, go big.
speaking of going big, it's after 1am and i'm still awake because i just watched the 2+ hour coverage of the women's all around gymnastics competition. did anyone else find the balance beam scores particularly shady? i know my nbc counterparts elfie schlegel and tim daggett shared my suspicions, which made me like them a bit more and return to the question "who names their child 'elfie?'" thoughts, anyone?
Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
15 August 2008
12 August 2008
summer things 8, 9 and 10: leotards, leggings and leopard
#8: Leopard
First things first: BACK UP YOUR HARD DRIVES people.
i am a huge supporter of apple products. i'm a walking apple ad. i have the video ipod, the ipod shuffle for the gym, i'm on my 2nd apple laptop. i pine for the iphone. i have the cute apple store approved neoprene case for my macbook because it's just so hip that i had to have it. and yet.
i went to the apple store w/my roommate yesterday to support her conversion to the apple side of life. while the sales guy was talking her through the differences between macs and pcs, he showed us Leopard, the newest of the mac OS X operating systems. i began to drool as i saw the hot new ways to view your files; i longed to be able to back up files every hour on the hour with the time machine program. i was sold. so i bought it, took it home, and installed it. just to be on the safe side, i backed everything up on my external hard drive.
fast forward 14 hours. i shut down my computer to take it out. when i attempt to start it up, it scoffs at me, preferring to remain in that dreaded blue screen, still loading limbo. i sighed, figuring i'd take it home, use the install disk to start it up, and it'd be fine. right. i get home. doesn't work the 30 times i try it. so i call apple. 90 minutes and 2 phone calls later, i am erasing my hard drive and reinstalling leopard onto my computer. mind you, i bought the program to ensure that i would always be able to back up my documents. barely able to conceal my fury from the tech support on the phone, i repeat silently in my head "at least you backed it all up last night" about 4000 times. sure enough, once the software is updated, i plug in my trusty external hard drive and everything's there where it should be. my sole gripe? i have to recreate my web browser bookmarks (which is annoying because i had a bunch of important work sites saved), and my handy little widget stickies (also annoying--i had some random account/confirmation numbers saved. note to self: always email these things to myself as a secondary back up). but it could be worse. i could have lost 4 years worth of curriculum and thousands of photos and songs.
#9: Leggings
ok. i get that the full body swim suit makes people insanely (and inhumanly) fast. i've watched the world records shatter in almost every swimming final of these Olympics so far. but leggings are sort of hit or miss in the world of fashion, and i feel the same about the full body version of them as a means to a faster end in sports. it's disconcerting to me when, if i'm not paying close attention, i can't tell whether it's a mens' or womens' race simply by looking at the competitors.
call me old fashioned, but i miss the days of knowing that michael phelps is not a chick because he's not wearing a suit exactly like the ones the women's sprinters wore during their relay (and what was up with the pouty attitudes the US women had when they got the silver medal in the 4x100 relay?). speaking of relays--did you all see the insanity that was the men's 4x100 freestyle relay yesteday (sunday)? how is it possible that there are people who move that fast? 100 meters in 46 seconds? it takes me longer than that to decide what to i want to eat when i open the fridge. honestly.
also, if we are going to be subjected to multiple daily interviews with michael phelps, can we PLEASE think of some new, exciting questions to ask him? my guess is that every time he wins a gold medal/shatters a world record/demonstrates his superhuman athletic ability, he's probably going to say that he felt really good about his performance. also, we all get that his life consists of swimming, eating, eating, swimming, eating, drug testing, eating, swimming and sleeping. so stop asking him about his routine and how he eats enough to feed a sizeable army every day.
think outside of the box people.
#10: leotards
so male gymnasts don't really wear leotards, but i couldnt think of any other L-words related to the sport. and the L-alliteration was such a catchy title.
anwyay. i've got full on olympic fever and i'm not ashamed to admit it. it's 1:18 am, and i just spent a solid 2.5 hours sprawled out on the couch, glued to our tiny tv, backseat commentating the men's gymnastics team finals. it's amazing how you don't follow a sport for 3 years, and then over the course of 2 nights you get so involved in the success of 6 (previously unknown to you) athletes that you have sympathy heart attacks every time they look like they might falter. i also find that it takes me about 10 seconds before i fall into this superiority complex where i get all judgemental about the nbc commentators and their snarky attitudes toward the athletes. never mind the fact that they are typically world/olympic champions in the sports on which they comment. i feel like while playing competitive sports can bring out the worst in other people, watching them brings out the worst in me.
despite that, my sense of patriotism has improved since 8.8.08. did you all watch mens gymnastics tonight? it was pretty awesome. the US was not expected to medal, considering that every single member of the team was a first time olympian. but then they got all "fierce, fired up underdog" on the rest of the field and won the bronze. they were so genuinely excited about it, that it warmed my jaded new york heart and got me rooting for the country of my birth.
i even secretly enjoyed the melodramatic montages and cavity-inducing "special interest" stories that nbc does so well to draw the audience in. but don't tell anyone.
First things first: BACK UP YOUR HARD DRIVES people.
i am a huge supporter of apple products. i'm a walking apple ad. i have the video ipod, the ipod shuffle for the gym, i'm on my 2nd apple laptop. i pine for the iphone. i have the cute apple store approved neoprene case for my macbook because it's just so hip that i had to have it. and yet.
i went to the apple store w/my roommate yesterday to support her conversion to the apple side of life. while the sales guy was talking her through the differences between macs and pcs, he showed us Leopard, the newest of the mac OS X operating systems. i began to drool as i saw the hot new ways to view your files; i longed to be able to back up files every hour on the hour with the time machine program. i was sold. so i bought it, took it home, and installed it. just to be on the safe side, i backed everything up on my external hard drive.
fast forward 14 hours. i shut down my computer to take it out. when i attempt to start it up, it scoffs at me, preferring to remain in that dreaded blue screen, still loading limbo. i sighed, figuring i'd take it home, use the install disk to start it up, and it'd be fine. right. i get home. doesn't work the 30 times i try it. so i call apple. 90 minutes and 2 phone calls later, i am erasing my hard drive and reinstalling leopard onto my computer. mind you, i bought the program to ensure that i would always be able to back up my documents. barely able to conceal my fury from the tech support on the phone, i repeat silently in my head "at least you backed it all up last night" about 4000 times. sure enough, once the software is updated, i plug in my trusty external hard drive and everything's there where it should be. my sole gripe? i have to recreate my web browser bookmarks (which is annoying because i had a bunch of important work sites saved), and my handy little widget stickies (also annoying--i had some random account/confirmation numbers saved. note to self: always email these things to myself as a secondary back up). but it could be worse. i could have lost 4 years worth of curriculum and thousands of photos and songs.
#9: Leggings
ok. i get that the full body swim suit makes people insanely (and inhumanly) fast. i've watched the world records shatter in almost every swimming final of these Olympics so far. but leggings are sort of hit or miss in the world of fashion, and i feel the same about the full body version of them as a means to a faster end in sports. it's disconcerting to me when, if i'm not paying close attention, i can't tell whether it's a mens' or womens' race simply by looking at the competitors.
call me old fashioned, but i miss the days of knowing that michael phelps is not a chick because he's not wearing a suit exactly like the ones the women's sprinters wore during their relay (and what was up with the pouty attitudes the US women had when they got the silver medal in the 4x100 relay?). speaking of relays--did you all see the insanity that was the men's 4x100 freestyle relay yesteday (sunday)? how is it possible that there are people who move that fast? 100 meters in 46 seconds? it takes me longer than that to decide what to i want to eat when i open the fridge. honestly.
also, if we are going to be subjected to multiple daily interviews with michael phelps, can we PLEASE think of some new, exciting questions to ask him? my guess is that every time he wins a gold medal/shatters a world record/demonstrates his superhuman athletic ability, he's probably going to say that he felt really good about his performance. also, we all get that his life consists of swimming, eating, eating, swimming, eating, drug testing, eating, swimming and sleeping. so stop asking him about his routine and how he eats enough to feed a sizeable army every day.
think outside of the box people.
#10: leotards
so male gymnasts don't really wear leotards, but i couldnt think of any other L-words related to the sport. and the L-alliteration was such a catchy title.
anwyay. i've got full on olympic fever and i'm not ashamed to admit it. it's 1:18 am, and i just spent a solid 2.5 hours sprawled out on the couch, glued to our tiny tv, backseat commentating the men's gymnastics team finals. it's amazing how you don't follow a sport for 3 years, and then over the course of 2 nights you get so involved in the success of 6 (previously unknown to you) athletes that you have sympathy heart attacks every time they look like they might falter. i also find that it takes me about 10 seconds before i fall into this superiority complex where i get all judgemental about the nbc commentators and their snarky attitudes toward the athletes. never mind the fact that they are typically world/olympic champions in the sports on which they comment. i feel like while playing competitive sports can bring out the worst in other people, watching them brings out the worst in me.
despite that, my sense of patriotism has improved since 8.8.08. did you all watch mens gymnastics tonight? it was pretty awesome. the US was not expected to medal, considering that every single member of the team was a first time olympian. but then they got all "fierce, fired up underdog" on the rest of the field and won the bronze. they were so genuinely excited about it, that it warmed my jaded new york heart and got me rooting for the country of my birth.
i even secretly enjoyed the melodramatic montages and cavity-inducing "special interest" stories that nbc does so well to draw the audience in. but don't tell anyone.
09 August 2008
summer thing #7: The Olympics!
The Beijing Olympics are here! As I do just about every four years, I found myself inexplicably drawn to the Opening Ceremonies--it's like a long version of the Oscars, minus the snarky intro by Jon Stewart or Billy Crystal. I know that going in, but I'll sit through the four + hour barrage of history through interpretive dance, explosives and tons of athletes in their yacht club best. I can't help it. I'm a sucker for dramatic music, inspirational stories of struggle and triumph, and incredible pyrotechnics/choreographed amazingness. Seriously, did you watch tonight's ceremony? Pretty impressive. I get so into it, that I continue to sit through the long (and seemingly randomly organized) march of the athletes into the Olympic stadium. It's sort of like being forced to watch thousands of undergrads enter the stadium on graduation day, except it goes on for like 2 hours longer. Though it is pretty awesome that I can celebrate all their hard work and self sacrifice by eating multiple desserts on the couch in my sweats, my eyes slightly glazed over as I endure yet another Bob Costas pun.
Get psyched for swimming, gymnastics, track and field, and more emotionally stirring NBC sports montages than you'll know what to do with. And seriously? I'm going to look into how Bob Costas got this whole Olympics hosting gig. he's been doing it since I can remember, and it seems like a sweet deal. Wake up, travel to an exciting location. Tape yourself waxing poetic about other people's accomplishments for a bit. Explore the city you're in, go out to eat. As I said to my lovely roommate today, he's like a professional summarizer for NBC sports. I'm a really good summarizer too! I'd be all over that job. For real. He's going to have to retire eventually, right?
In the meantime, I'll be an armchair observer of all things Olympic for the next 16 days. Check it out--in case the 4 billion hours of televised coverage on NBC, MSNBC, USA Network or Oxygen (really? oxygen?) isn't enough for you, you can watch everything (literally) on nbc.com. I tried a snazzy little widget below:
Get psyched for swimming, gymnastics, track and field, and more emotionally stirring NBC sports montages than you'll know what to do with. And seriously? I'm going to look into how Bob Costas got this whole Olympics hosting gig. he's been doing it since I can remember, and it seems like a sweet deal. Wake up, travel to an exciting location. Tape yourself waxing poetic about other people's accomplishments for a bit. Explore the city you're in, go out to eat. As I said to my lovely roommate today, he's like a professional summarizer for NBC sports. I'm a really good summarizer too! I'd be all over that job. For real. He's going to have to retire eventually, right?
In the meantime, I'll be an armchair observer of all things Olympic for the next 16 days. Check it out--in case the 4 billion hours of televised coverage on NBC, MSNBC, USA Network or Oxygen (really? oxygen?) isn't enough for you, you can watch everything (literally) on nbc.com. I tried a snazzy little widget below:
Exclusive Summer Olympics news & widgets at NBC Olympics.com!
10 June 2008
it was way more intense in person.
roller derby? amazing. the gotham girls roller derby held a bronx v. brooklyn game in the basement of hunter college last saturday, and it was possibly my favorite adventure in a good four months. it left me desperate for some witty nickname to stick onto my clothing (see "Beyonslay" or "Lemony Kickit" of the Bronx Gridlock) and brimming with faux pride for the bronx (because, um, i used to teach there?).it was like being a grown up in the 80s. which i did again today. because today was "Decades Day" for our school's spirit week. naturally, the decade that spoke to me was the 1980s. i was like not-quite-so-skanky madonna meets jennifer beals circa flashdance--complete with fingerless mesh gloves AND legwarmers with heels. and shorts.
all the glitter and dancing must have gone to my head and made me less alert though, because someone (perhaps a student? i'm not sure exactly) stole my flash drive. it has all my school stuff on it. all the things that i spent ages creating to make my class slightly less boring. these things have no value to whatever person took them, but the thought that they are gone for good is making me nauseated. or maybe that's just the sweltering heat and humidity that has permeated my bedroom despite my trusty window unit and its fierce attempts to cool my room.
23 March 2008
it's a good life.
proof that i don't only read things like People or Television Without Pity when i am online:
The Rubber Room. ever seen that Twilight Zone episode with Billy Mumy where he sends people to "the corn fields?" This is kinda like what happens with the people who end up in the corn fields. Only Billy Mumy is really the NYC Department of Education. And the people who end up in the field are teachers. And they're getting paid. And your taxes are paying for them to sit around.
(Note to self: don't throw a desk at a blackboard WHEN I AM TEACHING MY CLASS AND ACCIDENTALLY HIT A STUDENT WITH IT...)
stanford tree. lest you should think that the Lopez twins are Stanford basketball's greatest assets.
the cardinal rule. and let's not forget the ladies please!
The Rubber Room. ever seen that Twilight Zone episode with Billy Mumy where he sends people to "the corn fields?" This is kinda like what happens with the people who end up in the corn fields. Only Billy Mumy is really the NYC Department of Education. And the people who end up in the field are teachers. And they're getting paid. And your taxes are paying for them to sit around.
(Note to self: don't throw a desk at a blackboard WHEN I AM TEACHING MY CLASS AND ACCIDENTALLY HIT A STUDENT WITH IT...)
stanford tree. lest you should think that the Lopez twins are Stanford basketball's greatest assets.
the cardinal rule. and let's not forget the ladies please!
17 March 2008
march (mental) madness.
i take things waaay too seriously.
i can't even fathom updating you on school at the moment, friend. let's just say that for the second time in the past 4 months, the glass window above the door to my classroom was shattered by students playing around. this time a rain of jagged bits of glass showered onto several of my advisees as they waited for the bell. a couple got cut. all from some 17 year old 9th grader who thought he'd go down the hall slamming his palm against the glass as hard as he could. great job. but at least we get good friday off. that means only 3 days left of school.
but more importantly, i am attempting to fill out my bracket for the tournament. i haven't had the time or energy (or sadly, the satellite tv) to keep up with my college teams (aka the pac 10) much this season, so i'm sort of filling it out blindly. take my logic in this match up:
7 Butler v. 10 Southern Alabama
"Where is Butler? Hmm. I guess Southern Alabama is in...well, Southern Alabama. I bet they could be a good upset team. They play basketball in Alabama. " And thus, I have them making it all the way to a tragic 2nd round loss to Tennessee. If Sports Center ever tells me they're hiring, advise them to reconsider my resume.
Anyway. Despite my gross ignorance of the 2007-08 college basketball season, I am getting excited to impractically have 3 of my final 4 picks be from the west coast. yep. i vote with my heart, not with my logic bone. have you filled out a bracket? want to advise me against my Stanford/UCLA showdown on April 5? hit me back here.
i can't even fathom updating you on school at the moment, friend. let's just say that for the second time in the past 4 months, the glass window above the door to my classroom was shattered by students playing around. this time a rain of jagged bits of glass showered onto several of my advisees as they waited for the bell. a couple got cut. all from some 17 year old 9th grader who thought he'd go down the hall slamming his palm against the glass as hard as he could. great job. but at least we get good friday off. that means only 3 days left of school.
but more importantly, i am attempting to fill out my bracket for the tournament. i haven't had the time or energy (or sadly, the satellite tv) to keep up with my college teams (aka the pac 10) much this season, so i'm sort of filling it out blindly. take my logic in this match up:
7 Butler v. 10 Southern Alabama
"Where is Butler? Hmm. I guess Southern Alabama is in...well, Southern Alabama. I bet they could be a good upset team. They play basketball in Alabama. " And thus, I have them making it all the way to a tragic 2nd round loss to Tennessee. If Sports Center ever tells me they're hiring, advise them to reconsider my resume.
Anyway. Despite my gross ignorance of the 2007-08 college basketball season, I am getting excited to impractically have 3 of my final 4 picks be from the west coast. yep. i vote with my heart, not with my logic bone. have you filled out a bracket? want to advise me against my Stanford/UCLA showdown on April 5? hit me back here.
15 March 2008
an off court dispute.
being on the east coast has only intensified my Pac-10 support. 4 years away from the west has heightened my awareness that espn, abc and all the other networks that air college sports have an unfair tendency to parade the acc, big 10, and the sec nationally-- if i want to see UCLA play Oregon, or watch a USC v Arizona football game, i have to subscribe to satellite tv. this is the very definition of whack. my very own alma mater (Stanford) has won the Director's Cup 13 consecutive times, and as of right now, the top 4 teams in the running for this year's Director's Cup are Pac-10 schools.
as someone committed to fighting social injustice, i have come to realize that i need to embrace all Pac-10 teams (unless said teams are engaging in a competition against Stanford) in order to take a stand against the biased media and prejudiced fans of the midwest/southern conferences. we must all unite together against this discriminatory practice so that all americans can celebrate the glory of Pac-10 sports on a nationally televised level.
anyway. yesterday i had a bit of a disagreement over whether or not the Pac-10 has always held a championship tournament before the NCAA tournament. as a 4 year member of the Stanford sixth man club (with the ill-fitting long sleeved t-shirts to prove it) and impassioned supporter of the Pac-10 (see above), i was pretty confident that the champion was determined at the end of the season. my opponent, who hails from Duke (of the ACC--a conference that is a clear media favorite) was convinced that i was mistaken, and that there has always been a conference tournament (as he attempted to prove with his high tech iphone). well, who was right? find out here.
as someone committed to fighting social injustice, i have come to realize that i need to embrace all Pac-10 teams (unless said teams are engaging in a competition against Stanford) in order to take a stand against the biased media and prejudiced fans of the midwest/southern conferences. we must all unite together against this discriminatory practice so that all americans can celebrate the glory of Pac-10 sports on a nationally televised level.
anyway. yesterday i had a bit of a disagreement over whether or not the Pac-10 has always held a championship tournament before the NCAA tournament. as a 4 year member of the Stanford sixth man club (with the ill-fitting long sleeved t-shirts to prove it) and impassioned supporter of the Pac-10 (see above), i was pretty confident that the champion was determined at the end of the season. my opponent, who hails from Duke (of the ACC--a conference that is a clear media favorite) was convinced that i was mistaken, and that there has always been a conference tournament (as he attempted to prove with his high tech iphone). well, who was right? find out here.
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