So… aerials are crazy.
Skier starts down this skinny little trail.
Arms up.
Silence/Awe.
Then a coach breaking the silence by yelling “STRETCH” or “LOOK DOWN THE HILL”.
They land.
People scream.
This sport is absolutely amazing.
Caro’s Ramblings
People of Walmart
I honestly can’t remember if I’ve posted about this site in the past or not. Either way, I just realized it’s not linked on my “Sites That Entertain Me” for some reason, so it deserves a new post. Anyway, there’s not much I can do to tell you about this. The photos – even better yet, the captions that accompany these photos – speak volumes on their own. Take this one for instance:
"Okay, you need attention, gotcha. Now at what point do you decide the best way to draw that attention to yourself is making your backside look like a weird long-nosed martian? Even if you legitimately had a 3 foot striped tail, there has to a better way to accessorize it."
Plenty more where that came from at peopleofwalmart.com
Torvill & Dean: Still My Favorite
I love figure skating. When I was a kid I used to pretend I was a figure skater and spin around on the kitchen floor in my socks. It’s something I myself am not very good at, which makes it even more spectacular to watch. I mean they do these crazy jumps and spins and the footwork too. Even just watching them FLY from one end of the rink to the other is cool. Pairs is pretty awesome, but we already know how I felt about this years pairs competition. So in the meantime while I wait for the ladies’ singles, I had my ice dancing.
Not going to lie, ice dancing is notoriously my least favorite of the 4 varieties. Especially the compuslory dance. I think those judges have their work cut out for them. Just watching people do the same thing over and over again is too much for me, much less evaluating each competitor’s. No thank you!! The original dance can be interesting. There were a couple this year that intrigued me. Of course there was also the one that confused the hell out of me – the Russians doing the Aboriginal Dance. Take a lack of impressive/challenging moves, combined with some RIDICULOUS looking costumes and a premise that already has people offended, and you get this. Seriously, WTF?!
But then last night we got to the free skate. It’s by far my favorite. I saw a few that I liked. Even two that I loved. These of course were Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s (Canada) dance to Symphony #5 and Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates’ (USA) dance to Canto Della Terra. Beautiful. Stunning. Amazing.
But still not my all-time favorite.
That award goes to Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean (UK), who were the first people to get all perfect 6.0’s in the artistic impression section of the old scoring system. For technical merit they were split 5.9/6.0. I’m not sure what it is about this dance, but I love it. Even though it’s from 1984 and the picture is horribly grainy, I could watch it over and over again. Maybe it’s the music, maybe it’s the artistry, maybe it’s the incredible synchronization. I don’t know. They start on the ground because their music was too long. Apparently it exceeded the length by 18 seconds, which they discovered they could get around if none of their skates hit the ice until 18 seconds in. Pure perfection. Here it is:
Really Julia Mancuso?
Julia Mancuso wore a tiara at the medal ceremony. A tiara.
You’re an athlete, not a princess. Yes, it’s great that you did so well, but you came in second. Stop showing off to the people you beat and have some class like the person who beat you.
An Open Letter to NBC
Dear Executives at NBC:
While I appreciate your coverage of the variety of sporting events at the Olympics, I have a bone to pick with you.
First and foremost, these Olympics are being held in Vancouver, which is the same timezone as the west coast. Unlike games past where the events would be held in the middle of the night for Americans, these sports are held at approximately the same time we are awake. Despite this, we are not receiving footage of the competitions until 8pm.
This is unacceptable. I cannot browse the internet during the day without fear that various Olympics results will be “spoiled”. You have multiple stations on which you can broadcast. Why not show the events, live, during the day on USA? Or MSNBC? A majority of Americans have some sort of recording device (TiVo, DVR, etc.) and could tape these events to watch at their convenience. If you wanted to re-broadcast the highlights in prime time on NBC, more power to you.
This is another issue I must raise. The prime time broadcast spans from 8pm to midnight. As a hard-working, tax-paying citizen, I must get up at 6:30am to get ready to go to my job. Staying up until midnight, or in some cases later, certainly doesn’t help come morning time. And while I have no problem rolling out of bed, throwing on some clothes, and driving to work, I can assure you that my boss is less than stoked to see yawning, grumpy, bags-under-the-eyes-which-aren’t-all-the-way-open-in-the-first-place Caro. Even moving the broadcast from the 8pm-12a slot to 7-11pm would vastly improve this situation.
Finally, if you are censoring the Olympics and waiting until 8pm to show me the clips of the competition you think I might enjoy, please refrain from broadcasting spoilers. Last night I turned on the NBC Nightly News at 6pm. After several non-gaming stories, the announcer switched gears to the Olympics. Thinking this was a preview of what I would be shown later in the evening, it didn’t even occur to me to change the channel. However, without warning, the results of the Women’s Downhill were posted. Thank you for telling me that Lindsey Vonn won gold. Thank you for sharing this with me before you showed it to me in any broadcast. If you are going to keep me in suspense until 8pm, please do not spoil the results at 6pm.
Aside from these issues, I greatly appreciate your commitment to showing me what you consider the highlights of the Olympics on a bi-annual basis.
Sincerely,
Caro
Chicago: A Picture Story
A little later than promised, but here they are!! Chicago is a really awesome city, and I definitely plan to go back.
I Agree With Dick Button
After watching some of the pairs skating, I couldn’t help but notice that some of the skaters seemed to be doing a lot of “extra” movements in their routines. In particular, they grabbed their skates quite a lot. Maybe it’s the new cool thing?
Wedding Hair Style
I’m going to be in a wedding in a couple of months and have NO idea what to do with my hair!! The dress is strapless so I’m thinking half-up, half-down or something, but again, not a clue.
I need suggestions ASAP. My hair is quite cooperative – will curl or go straight. Help a girl out!
Oh and here’s the dress:
2010 Olympics
Ok I’ll get to Chicago later. Something waaaaay more important is around the corner kids – the 2010 Winter Olympics!
I’m absolutely in love with the Olympics, and while the Summer games are definitely my favorite of the two, the Winter Olympics never fail to provide me with joy. I mean what’s not to like about sports such as the Biathlon? Cross-country skiing + target shooting, two things that clearly go together. Or Curling – pushing a giant tea kettle down an icy path and sweeping ice out of its way. What a novel idea! LOL. Actually though, much to my surprise the 2006 US Women’s Curling Team was pretty attractive. I’m not sure where they find these people, but apparently attractive curlers do exist!
Seriously though, there’s tons of great winter sports, both random (see above) and high profile (skiing, snowboarding, figure skating, speed skating, etc). The one sport that bores the crap out of me is simple cross-country skiing. I mean yeah, it takes incredible skill and athleticism to ski cross-country. But why watch this when you can watch people ski AND shoot in the biathlon? I’m also personally not into hockey. I’m sure I’ll catch a game or two, but I definitely don’t plan to make a habit of watching all the games.
As always I’ll be cheering for the red, white and blue of the US and the green and gold of the land down under.
The full schedule can be found here, but these are the highlights as I see them:
I want to post Chicago pictures…
…But I feel like crap 
One blog is enough for the day. I can say that Chicago was absolutely spectacular though. I ate too much, shopped a bit, drank a little, and saw not nearly enough. I got to wear all my warm clothes and had a great time in the freezing cold. It snowed too!
Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow and put up a picture or two. If not, Monday for sure!
Recent Tweets- coco_sprinkles: pandora radio really makes the work day so much better. thanks pandora!
- coco_sprinkles: Forget disneyland - the new target is by far the happiest place on earth
- coco_sprinkles: poured a giant bowl of cereal only to discover there were about 5 drops of milk left. fml
- coco_sprinkles: i love when random people stop by my office and bring me presents!
- coco_sprinkles: @emmie_bee cuties!!! i can't wait to see them