Olympics-days 10 and 11

Day 10 is pretty boring. The ice dancing finally ended. Canada won. USA got silver. Russia bronze. The qualifiers for men's freestyle skiing were held. Two Americans made it. Jerett "Speedy" Peterson and Ryan St. Onge. I hope they do well.

Also, the Dutchman who won gold in the 10,000 meter speedskating was disqualified for an illegal lane change. The sad thing is that his coach told him to change when it really wasn't time for him to do so. It totally stinks but that happens sometimes.

Day 11 was the free skate for the women's figure skating. There wasn't a really outstanding American woman. The Korean, Kim Yu-Na, skated very well. She scored the highest anyone has ever done with the current scoring system. She is a very strong skater and heavily favored to win. Her jumps have so much speed and power in them, it is refreshing to watch. The story of the night though was Joannie Rochette from Canada. Her mom died unexpectedly on Sunday and she decided to skate two days later. During her warm-up she was visibly upset. She held it together throughout her performance and skated very well. As soon as she finished she started crying again. The home crowd cheered so loudly for her. I got emotional for her as well. She is third after the short program. I hope she decides to skate for the long program.

Women's ski cross also occured. It is just as crazy as snowboard cross. Tons of people wiped out. A Canadian (Ashleigh McIvor) won gold. They are cleaning up at these olympics.

Also, Bode Miller and Ted Ligety failed to medal in the men's Super Combined. Tough. More olympics on tonight!

Olympics-days 7, 8 & 9

Hello there, I haven't been able to watch the Olympics in a few days so I've had to catch up online.

Day 7
Bode Miller wins another medal, silver, in the Super G. Andrew Weibrecht of the USA, got bronze.

Amy Williams of Great Britian won the first individual gold medal for the country in Skeleton.

Day 8
Shani Davis got a silver medal in the 1,500 meter race in long track speed skating, he holds the world record but this kid from the Netherlands ended up having a faster time. 

Simon Aman from Switzerland won ski jumping again. His second gold of this olympics and fourth of his career. He was like five feet ahead of everyone else. When he competed in 2002 he was 20 years old and looked like Harry Potter. He still does.

Lindsey Vonn won bronze in the Super G. She stil has two more races in the Alpine events.

Three Americans qualified for the women's freestyle, they haven't qualified for the finals since 1998.

Lacey Schoor

I did see the Canadian bobsled flip over, the guys fall out and they slid along the track. It was horrifying to watch. They interviewed the team afterward, they were ok, but seemed a little shaken up.

One race I did see was Apolo Ohno's 1,000 meter short track final. Jillian and I happened to be at McDonald's getting milkshakes and saw they were on the tv there. We ended up staying for an hour. It was funny because we were screaming and yelling in the middle of the restaurant. People looked at us weird. The race was really good, Apolo was in the middle of the pack and about ready to make his move but then he bobbled on his skate and lost all his speed. He ended up catching up to win bronze which is quite amazing. The only thing was that the Koreans once again dominated and took first and second. The medal helped him become the most winningest winter olympian. Passing Bonnie Blair with seven medals total. Cool.

Day 9
Ted Ligety the 2006 gold medalist in the super combined moved from 15th to 5th which is quite a jump.

Bode Miller finally won his gold medal!!! He was 7th after the downhill competition but came back with a wicked awesome slalom run. He's pretty much redeemed himself from the 2006 Olympics where he didn't win anything. I'm so excited for him.

Bode and his gold medal slalom run

Also, they have a new thing called ski cross. It's like snowboard cross but skiing. Four skiiers race each other down the hill with jumps. I'm sad I missed this. I hope I see it later.

And I'm glad ice dancing is done after today. It is the worst thing in the world and I haven't been able to watch Olympics because of it. I'm excited to go back to it.

Olympics-day 6

So this was awhile ago so I'll write what I remember. The first thing I watched this night was the women's combined. They do the downhill and the slalom and add the two times together. All the hype about Lindsey Vonn was continuing (some say the media are faking the injury to add more hype). She did really well in the downhill but wiped out in the slalom and lost her ski, and did not get a good time. Maria Reichs won gold, but the American Julia Mancuso won silver yet again. Good for her.

Julia Mancuso

Next up was the women's half pipe in snowboarding. We had four Americans in the event and a really good chance to sweep all the medals. To me, it wasn't as impressive after the men's event because they can't quite pull off the tricks or get the air the men can. I also felt bad because it seemed like everyone was falling. It was heartbreaking. In the end, an Australian woman claimed gold, Torah something. Hannah Teter (who won gold at 16 in 2006) got silver and Kelly Clark got the bronze. Good job USA.

Hannah Teter

The main event of the night was the men's free skate for figure skating. Going into the night there were three men within a point of each other, it was going to be an interesting night. Jeremy Abbott did well besides a fall in the beginning, but it seemed like he couldn't shake it off. He's young so he'll do well in the future. There was also a kid from Khazakstan who did really well, and I was proud because he learned to skate at rinks at malls. Another kid, from Japan I think, his shoelace broke in the middle of the performance and he had to stop. He had to tie it together the best he could and continue on. The Canadian, Patrick Chan, fell early in his performance and couldn't get it back. But he has excellent form and great strength. He skated to a medley from Phantom of the Opera. I really enjoyed his performance even though he fell. I think he will also do well in the future. Johnny Weir gave a dramatic and excellent performance but not well enough to get a medal.

The other Japanese guy-Takahashi-fell, but gave an excellent performance besides that. I really enjoyed watching him and felt that he deserved his bronze medal. I think he was pleased with the outcome.

Evan Lysacek skated earlier on. He was yet again in a bold black costume. His choreography was great and artistry near perfect. Evan can't get his tucks quite as close because he is a tall guy but he didn't mess up on anything. He was so happy with his performance that he started pumping the air before the music even stopped.

Evan Lysacek

Yevgeni (this is the correct spelling I think) Plushenko was the last to skate of the night. He did a quadruple jump in his performance. It was amazing. He also did this hip body roll thing that was kind of creepy and we were all grossed out buy it. The rest of his performance was really good but there were a few bobbles here and there. At the end of the night I wasn't sure who was going to win. But the scores came out and Evan Lysacek held his first place standing. He was so happy to do so well in his sport. The first gold in men's figure skating since 1988? I guess Plushenko was really pissed about his second place finish. The Russians are looking into the scoring to see if anyone cheated. Plushenko also said that the gold medalist in the Olympics should be able to do a quadruple jump, if they can't they don't deserve to be there. Lysacek countered back with something like, if the skating were solely about jumping they would only get 30 seconds to do the best jumps they could. (Someone is bitter). I think that the situation is purely the result you get when the sport you compete in is judged. It's purely objective and people can have different opinions. It's really hard to compare people in this sport. However, I do think it's interesting how a few years ago, all the men were trying to do quadruple jumps, now only a few can even do them let alone try.

Anyway, good job Evan Lysacek! Way to beat the Russian.

Olympics-day 5

The Olympics never cease to amaze me. It can be so dramatic. Yesterday was so amazing, let's recap.
First, the USA team qualified for the final in the men's speed skating short track relay. It's interesting because people are switching in and out of the race so quickly. USA was racing South Korea and two other countries. There was a crash in the middle of the race so the other two countries fell behind. The thing I thought was funny was that the Korean tried to put some speed on in the end of the race. Apolo was content to let them win, save his energy, and finish in second. The finals are on February 26th.

Shani Davis took his second straight gold in men's 1,000 meter speedskating. He is like lightning on ice. It was also cool that he was able to put the South Korean in his place. Another American, Chad Hedrick got bronze. Shani was the first African American to win gold in the winter olympics in 2006. Now he's repeated his gold. Shani is so nice and chill, and was very gracious about winning gold.

One of the biggest stories of the Olympics was Lindsey Vonn. A downhill skiier, she didn't do so well at the Olympics in 2006 so she was back for redemption. But then she got some kind of shin-muscle injury that threated her being able to compete. The weather was bad so she got a few days to rest and recover. An interesting thing about Vonn is that she uses men's skis, they do better on the rough terrain. She's been able to win almost all the World Cup races. Julia Mancuso, another American skiier went earlier and got first with a really fast time but there were a lot of other fast skiiers left to go. Many of them had trouble with the course and crashed a lot. Lindsey started her race and was a little behind Julia's time. But with great skiing she was able to get faster and claim the gold. Lindsay was so excited to win gold, she was yelling and crying because she was so excited. I was really happy for her.

Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn

Julia Mancuso

Next up was Shaun White and the men's half pipe. I wanted USA to sweep the whole event, it didn't happen but we still did well. After the first round Shaun White was leading, and when he did his second run he already had gold. It was more like a victory lap. Shaun is such a good athlete and he pushes the limits of his sport. He gets more air than anyone else. On his last run Shaun busted out a double McTwist, a trick that no one else can do. He improved his score by like 3 points blowing away all the other competition. I learned that Shaun has a private half pipe that Red Bull built for him and flys him out to in a helicopter to practice tricks. There is a foam pit on the side that he can use to fall when he tries out new tricks. How cool is that? I will try to link a video of his win soon, because it is that awesome. Shaun White got a repeat gold in the half pipe. It made me proud to be an American. Another American, Scotty Lago, claimed bronze. He put up a superb run. I love the snowboard half pipe.

Get ready for day 6 because it was GREAT.

Olympics-day 4

Sometimes with the Winter Olympics I feel like there is nothing on, but I think it's because there are less events. This leaves less to show on primetime. I think we saw almost all of the men's figure skaters. It was a bit much.

As always there were many highs and lows. One of the worst lows was Lindsay Jacobellis. A snowboard cross competitor, she won silver in the 2006 olympics because she was showboating at the end, fell and lost her first place standing. A lot of people gave her grief because she was showing off, including me. But I felt bad for her. This year she made it to the semifinals but missed a gate after a jump and had to drop out. That is the sport. One can be in and out of the race in a split second. But, good news for Canada-they got the gold medal, Maelle Ricker claimed it for the home nation.

Lindsay Jacobellis

Maelle Ricker

The men's and women's USA hockey teams both won their games. The women's team are in the finals now. The men's team won, which is a comeback from 2006 where they didn't do so hot.

And finally, the men's figure skating. I think we saw almost everyone compete. Evgeni Plushenko, the 2006 gold medalist from Russia, came out of retirement for another shot at gold. The man is a machine. He executes his jumps flawlessly. I want a little more artistry from him, but he is fun to watch because he is so powerful.

Evegeni Plushenko

My new fave is the cutie Patrick Chan from Canada. He is only 19 and was anticipated to be a contender for a medal. He did well, but not well enough. I don't think he'll medal, but he still has many skating years ahead of him.

won gold at 2008 skate Canada

Of the three Americans, Evan Lysacek did the best. He is a tall fellow and with his costume being all black he brings a dramatic presence and makes such great lines with his long legs and arms. Evan gave a great performance and was so pleased with it. In 2006 he was fighting the flu, was in 10th after the short program, had an IV to get rehydrated, and came back to get 4th after the long program. Basically he wants to win this time. Johnny Weir and Jeremy Abbott did not do so hot. The top three men are Plushenko, Lysacek and a Japanese fellow whose scores are within a half a point of each other. Look for them to fight for gold.

Evan Lysacek

Shaun White tonight!

Olympics-day 3

The Olympics continue to be exciting and thrilling, I just can't get enough. Yesterday was exciting. It started off with pairs figure skating. Both teams from China did amazing. They were elegant and so in sync with each other. I didn't really care which team won. Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo came away with gold. Their story is so cute. They have skated for 18 years together and came out of retirement for one last shot at gold. They've only recently been married. During their program they had a little bobble, while the other Chinese pair didn't. But that's the sport, it is all subjective. I am happy with the outcome. I have to put all of these pictures up though because they are amazing and show how happy they were with their performances.

Xue and Hongbo

the other Chinese couple

Up next is men's downhill. The sport where athletes race at breakneck speed from the top to the bottom of the mountain. Bode Miller was on a quest to redeem himself from the 2006 Olympics where he did not medal. (I actually did not get to see a ton of this). Bode posted an awesome time and was so elated at being in first. But two others were able to beat him out with better times, so he ended up getting bronze. I think he was pleased with bronze though. He got flack from people because he once admitted to skiing hungover. And sometimes he does really bad because his skiing style is all or nothing and he usually does really good or really bad. I'm really excited he did well. I love Bode.

Aside: sometimes I feel bad because I don't think as much of the silver and bronze medalists, but they are just as awesome as what they do. They beat everyone else in the world but one person. I feel I need to give them more credit. So congrats all you silver and bronze medalists.

Last of the night was the men's snowboard cross. This event is uh-maze-ink. Four people basically race each other downhill. I feel like it is similar to short track speed skating because you can be in and out of the race in a second. We had two Americans in the final. The first wiped out in the first seconds of the race. Seth Wescott, the other American, was third and didn't look like he could overtake the other two boarders. Amazingly, he came out of a turn in front of the second place guy. After that he tried to chase down the man in first. It looked like it wasn't going to happen but then Seth Wescott came from behind in the final seconds of the race to win. It was seriously one of the best races ever. Here a the YouTube video of how the race looks. I hope to have the actual race up here soon.

I look forward to seeing Shaun White tomorrow on halfpipe. I love him too. PS. All pictures are from Sports Illustrated.com.

Olympics-day 2

I got to watch the olympics on high def last night. You can see everything, it makes me feel bad for the people whose faces we are getting absurdly too close to. I didn't see a whole lot but here's the lowdown-

American Johnny Spilane got silver in x-country skiing being beaten by the shortest time ever.

Canada finally won gold on home soil as Alexandre Bilodeau claimed gold in men's moguls. He was amazing, so fast and pulled out awesome arials. His older brother, who suffers from cerebral palsy, was in the crowd jumping up and down for his brother. It was so cute. American Byron Wilson claimed bronze in the moguls.

After the pairs ice skating short program the Chinese dominate. They posted the highest score ever and lead everyone by a huge margin. Look for them to win.

Also, they are having problems with snow up in Vancouver. It's too warm. Let's hope they get some good snow soon.

2010 Winter Olympics-day 1

If you know me you know that I am highly dedicated to watching the Olymhpics. I did a whole series of blog posts during the 2008 Summer Olympics that were pretty amazing (the Olympics that is). This time around I don't have the comfort of my HD tv at home, in fact the tv in my apt doesn't even get NBC because it can't get high def tv. Which creates a problemo for me in that I can't watch my beloved winter games. Anywho, I didn't get to watch the opening ceremonies, were they any good? I did get to watch last night though. Here's what I saw:

Women's Moguls-USA kept Canada from their first home-won gold medal, taking gold and bronze in the event. Shannon Bahrke got bronze and Hannah Kearney got gold.

Hannah Kearney

Short track speed skating-Apolo Ohno once again tries to grab gold in this tricky sport. He got to the finals but the Koreans managed to hold him off until the end, where they wiped out and USA went 2-3. (Ha ha, take that South Korea!) RJ Selski got the bronze (he's 19, got a hugo injury in September that almost severed his artery, his mom was so proud.) Also, they showed a shot of their skates when they go around the turns-they are almost all the way on the side of the blade, which means they are using incredible muscle strength to keep themselves up. Ohno tied Bonnie Blair for most decorated winter olympian with 6 medals now. I like me some Ohno.

                                    

                                                                 Ohno and the Koreans

                                             

                                                                         Ohno

Men's Luge-not too exciting, the really good Italian guy didn't do so well. The Germans beat everyone. And the whole place is really somber after the death of the Georgian luger-Nodar Kumwitashvili during a practice run before the Olympics started. So sad. The track gets people to speeds of 90 mph when the norm is 80 mph. They moved the men's start line to the women's and the women's even lower on the track. They also modified some of the turns and put a railing in one part.

                                        

                                                                      American on the luge

Other-I missed Bob Costas. He is so corny in his coverage, but I love it. I'm sad I missed all his gems from the Opening Ceremonies. Let's hope I get to watch more. Also, Visa has done it again with the Morgan Freeman commercials. I've only seen two. But the one about Dan Jansen almost made me cry.

Go Team USA!

They have creepy short Mexicans there too

I went country dancing with my roommate Audrey the other night. Mostly because I didn't have anything to do and I needed to escape the couples on my couches. I had never been before and didn't know anything I was doing but it was kinda fun. The funny thing was the only Mexican in the entire place managed to find me. I have experience because they all go to the salsa club (which I've been to twice) to hit on girls. But at least there are other Mexican girls there too. The guys are really touchy feely and like to dance uncomfortably close. And they are short. Which is an odd experience dancing with someone who you are taller than. The Mexican I danced with the other night kept dipping me and I kept freaking out-" 'scuse me but I don't trust you to not drop me." Yeah, so Mexicans like to country dance too.

Some salsa action a few years ago

Trying to keep me out

I graduated from BYU in December 2009. While I am looking for a real job I have a lot of time on my hands. I still sneak up to campus to use the library, get my transcript, go to the bookstore, etc. But every time I go, someone I know sees me and asks me what I'm doing, I'm not supposed to be here. That makes me feel really sad. I'm not a part of BYU as it is day to day anymore. And I miss it. I miss learning things, seeing friends, meeting new people, doing homework, having a stressful schedule, seeing random things on campus like people driving couches around campus, and generally all things BYU. On top of all this my net ID won't get me on the computers anymore. It's like I'm officially kicked out. Let's see if they can make me stay away!!

I'm 23 now

So Monday was my birthday. I turned 23. I didn't have the ageing crisis that I did last year. But I still feel old. I was a little worried at how the day would go since I have no job and no school to go to, but things went pretty well. Lemme back up though because there was birthday partying before Monday.

My roommate Audrey's birthday was on Thursday. She turned 21. Rachelle's friend Celeste gave me some chocolates for my birthday which was so nice of her. Saturday morning I took my roommies out to breakfast at Kneaders. It was so heavenly. Although I think I prefer it in the summer when you can eat it outside at the tables and have the sunshine warm your back. Saturday night we had a dance party to celebrate both our birthday's. My roommates Rachelle and Jenny did a lot to make it a sweet dance party. We had it underneath the parking garage of my apartment complex. They turned off the lights and then turned on the emergency lights of a couple of cars so they were strobing at different times. They had crepe paper and balloons for decor. There weren't a ton of people there, but it was still fun. We danced to all the old favorites.

Audrey, Rachelle, Me and Jenny

Sunday we went to Audrey's house and had Cafe Rio salad and striped delight. Her mom even made a pan for me and I got to blow out candles! Then Audrey's dad showed us his guns which was pretty cool. Afterwards we played nerts and it was crazy. At ward prayer the ward sang to me and Audrey and big Mike Price came up in the middle of the song and made us take a bite of his huge pink frosted sugar cookie. It was really random, but people thought it was funny. I was a bit afraid he was going to shove it in our faces. I'm glad he didn't. Then I watched Tarzan that I got with my birthday money, with my peeps and their boys. I love Phil Collins.

On Monday I woke up to find the apartment decorated with balloons and crepe paper, and messages written on the mirrors around the apartment. It was exciting! I met Marissa on campus for lunch to catch up on events, then she bought me ice cream. My fave.When I got home I found a package in the mail choc full of presents from Jenn! She sent me these homemade cake truffles (yum!), lotion, old polaroids, cadbury mini eggs (which we both have an affinity for), and one of her famous unicorn cards. Everything in it was so Jenn, and I was so excited and pleased to get it

Then I chatted with my momma. I got a little bored waiting for stuff to happen. Jillian came over and gave me a great card, flowers and better cheddars. We took some pics together. Then I supervised the frosting of my cake and probably annoyed Rachelle who was doing it.

Me and Jillian doin' what we do best

birthday cake!

My dinner group peeps and a couple more (Rachelle, Audrey, Jenny, Brent, Jason, Eric, Melissa and Melanie) came with me to Zupa's where we ate dinner. I got a salad and pannini which makes two birthdays in a row where I ate panninis. (awesome). Then we came back to my apt and had birthday cake and ice cream (extreme moose tracks from Smith's is a great deal for your money).

23 candles

My wonderful roommates all got me exactly what I wanted for my birthday. Rachelle got me BYU sweatpants that are so comfortable. All my roommates had a pair but me, so now I'm included. Jenny got me a cool necklace that has an upsidedown watch on the end. I thought it was whimsical but it's also practical too because I don't have to pull out my cell phone to check the time. It also has a button to push where it lights up. Audrey made me a t-shirt. It has Sheldon's face from Big Bang Theory (a tv show on CBS), and underneath it says one of his most hilarious lines "I'm not CRAZY, my mother had me tested." I love it. I put it all on and then I looked like a gangster, especially because the necklace is blingy. After this we had a photoshoot of sorts that had many fun moments.

Gansta time

The boys had me sit on their laps, and it was somewhat awkward...

tricks with Audrey

birthday cards and gifties

the best t-shirt ever

Clark, my crippled home teacher, made it up and down three flights of stairs to wish me a happy birthday, and then came back the night after to give me a birthday present-a gift card to coldstone. Then we played foursquare for an hour and it was so much fun.

Many texts, phone calls, and cards later, I had a great birthday with promises of more to come.  (I hope to go ice skating, and Gretchen is taking me to Olive Garden soon.) Here's hoping 23 is a great year!