With the conclusion of the EuroCup now behind us - go Spain and the yummy Spanish boys! Torres, Fabregas and Ramos - mmmmmmmm.....sorry I digress.....
Statement from Germany's Keeper now retiring (and good riddance you whiny arrogant tantrum induced athlete)
"Lehmann, who tried to speak to Rosetti (the match official) after the final whistle, said: 'He was very arrogant and in my opinion he was biased. "
Uh yeah, cause your whole career has your character up on a white pedestal......
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Life as a Youth Soccer Coach
I find myself many times wondering lots of things with respect to parents and players and also other former players that coach or did coach and their reasons for no longer coaching and you know what the reason always is for quitting as a youth coach?
The Parents
Yes I know, I am telling you this so that all of my beloved friends and family who have young children, don't get caught up in the crap that you so desperately want to for your spawn.
Last night as I was taking off my cleats after my women's game, two women were chatting about coaching and this is how the discussion went.
Amy, are you still coaching?
No, I don't coach anymore.
Did you stop coaching after your daughter graduated high school?
No, I only coached for 5 years. Won State, went to Regionals, but it was the parents that I had had enough of.
Oh I know what you mean, I could only do it for a year and the parents were too much for me.
Yeah, I I had enough when after we went to Regionals the parents thought we should bring in paid trainers to coach the team. Like everything I had done now all of a sudden wasn't good enough. And they were just average players - yet the parents thought they were amazing.
Now let me tell you something - these two players - they could ball. And if the one lady got them to Regionals - then she knew something about how to coach as well. Yet another example of parents sabotaging the soccer regime. And it is harder for women, cause you got to take an attitude even with grown men of "I don't care what you think." And then be able to move on. I remember several times in my first couple years in dealing with the bullshit, that I thought I was done. I had had enough. I was done with the lying by the players, the misinformation to the parents, the wrong assumptions by parents, the temper tantrums and back stabbing. Oh yeah - I got some fun stories. And yet in the end, I have endured. The irony is, since moving to Washington, I haven't had to be the one dealing with the full pressure - T has. Yet the fact we are able to team up and be a united front and discuss things - has helped the two of us. For example, let me tell you one of our latest interesting stories. And I hope you all learn from this....
One of our players (who has a great disposition btw) has a bad knee. A year ago she had surgery on it to repair a torn meniscus. Well I guess the knee didn't heal as hoped and now she has quite a bit of pain. In the end, the doctor basically advised her that she should just play through the pain and really, just tear the damn thing all the way through so they can do a clean repair. Interesting advice for a 14 year old but whatever. Well so the pain started a few weeks ago. She didn't practice one week, and then the next week leading up to our weekend tournament, she practiced sporadically and was not able to finish a training session. As it turns out, we had a keeper situation for this tournament. Our primary keeper was gone, the backup had a hand injury, and we tried to get a couple guest keepers but no dice. So the Thursday before our tournament, we advise our player that she is going to be the keeper part time, but that she is NOT going to play on the field. We discuss her knee with her and that we want to see her playing in full training sessions before we throw her into the mixer. But that she was good enough to at least be the keeper for the weekend. Another girl whose knee was iffy was also going to share the duties, but it appears that she was ok come tournament time. So after the first game, the player did really well in the goal. So we decided to continue playing her there since we were short players for the tournament, and that she could fill this void for us. We explain this to her - and she is good to go. We also explained to her that we are not looking to make her the keeper for the team and that we do look at her as a field player and that is what the focus for her will be after the tournament.
So we leave thinking - everything is ok. The player was totally fine, totally understood and we went our separate ways. Well then we get the email on Monday from mommy. Now let me tell you - we actually have had a pretty good relationship with the family for the past several years, so we found this to be a little interesting. So the mom states she is writing on behalf of her family. Remember that line because it is key. Then she goes on to express how bummed out her daughter was about playing keeper and that of course she wants to be a team player but then goes on about not understanding why she had to play there the whole time and that she thought she would be sharing keeper responsibilities and that we should do a better job of explaining the expectations and possibilities to her.
Absorb that in now.
Ok good, well so what do we do? We of course sent an email back to the parents explaining everything and that the information was communicated to her daughter and that her daughter was only ever going to play Keeper in the tournament, the question was simply half time and then sit on the bench or full time and someone else can play in the field. We have a rule that you have to be match fit in order to play and you have to be able to play through training sessions in order to play. This is not Rec soccer. We talk to the player at practice yesterday as remember, the mother said she was writing on behalf of her family - which includes her daughter. And you don't really think we are going to allow a pink elephant between the player and the coach like that do you? It turns out to begin with, the player did not know her mother even wrote the email, turns out the player was notably embarrassed that her mother did write an email and when informed of what was stated in the email. Even further was that the response we shared with the parent - was not communicated to the player. So we threw the mom under the bus with her kid and told her to go home and tell her mom to show her both the email she sent to us and also our response. To which the player said she would. Now remember these girls are now 14 and entering their freshman year of high school. Some of which will be 15 very soon. So the whole - mom you are now embarrassing me movement is starting to be in full force and will only increase substantially this year. Trust me - I not only remember from my youth, but I have seen this in a couple coaching cycles now.
So the beautiful thing about this was, momma and daddy bear were pissed caused they didn't get to see baby bear where she normally plays and they got freaked out that we were going to turn her into the goalie for the team and thus the email.
A lesson to you all, it is not necessary for you to fight your children's battles. If they do not learn how to navigate the waters of adversity, they will not learn to deal with it on their own. And the irony is,in this situation, the mother got her hands burnt by the coaches, made to feel dumb by illustrating that we had communicated expectations to the player (the player simply hadn't communicated that to the parents and quite honestly - the player doesn't have to) and then got her hands burnt by her daughter once the unknown secret was out. If that is the outcome that you are willing to incur as a parent - then by all means, go fight your kids battles. But parents need to take a step back and realize that this is their kids path and their kids choice and their kids decision on how to deal with things. And no, they aren't going to always make the right decision or know how to deal with things, but then the role of the parent is not to step in on behalf of the child, the role of the parent is to discuss with the child how they should deal with the situation. And then let the child go down their path and learn how to be strong and independent.
My parents did not fight my battles for me going back to as young as I can remember. And what I realized in my adult hood is that they were preparing me for life. They were preparing me for the realization that things are not always fair or just. People get away with things they shouldn't and it is how you deal with it that matters the most. In looking back, I am just fine that my parents didn't fight my battles for me. Could they have on a couple of things - yes and as a kid I may have wanted them to, but in the end, I also realized something very important - I never told them I wanted them to fight my battles, and it is a toss up over whether they would have stepped in or not anyway if I had. I have found too many times in my adult life - that I have had to stand up on my own two feet against the world. And if my parents had stepped in and tried to fight my battles for me as a child, I would not have the strength nor the courage to have stood up for myself in the adult world - when I so desperately needed to in order to defend my character and integrity.
In two years these children will be driving cars - operating what some could perceive as a deadly weapon and required to make wise choices. In 4 years they will be considered adults and held accountable for their actions by the world. By this age they have already passed 2/3 of their youth years. So how are you going to prep your child for their adult life? We hear stories of parents calling collegiate coaches to complain about things regarding their adult children and we think - wow, what gives you the right to think you even have a voice now? It is these moments that parents have to cut the umbilical cord. One that should have been cut a long long time ago.
The Parents
Yes I know, I am telling you this so that all of my beloved friends and family who have young children, don't get caught up in the crap that you so desperately want to for your spawn.
Last night as I was taking off my cleats after my women's game, two women were chatting about coaching and this is how the discussion went.
Amy, are you still coaching?
No, I don't coach anymore.
Did you stop coaching after your daughter graduated high school?
No, I only coached for 5 years. Won State, went to Regionals, but it was the parents that I had had enough of.
Oh I know what you mean, I could only do it for a year and the parents were too much for me.
Yeah, I I had enough when after we went to Regionals the parents thought we should bring in paid trainers to coach the team. Like everything I had done now all of a sudden wasn't good enough. And they were just average players - yet the parents thought they were amazing.
Now let me tell you something - these two players - they could ball. And if the one lady got them to Regionals - then she knew something about how to coach as well. Yet another example of parents sabotaging the soccer regime. And it is harder for women, cause you got to take an attitude even with grown men of "I don't care what you think." And then be able to move on. I remember several times in my first couple years in dealing with the bullshit, that I thought I was done. I had had enough. I was done with the lying by the players, the misinformation to the parents, the wrong assumptions by parents, the temper tantrums and back stabbing. Oh yeah - I got some fun stories. And yet in the end, I have endured. The irony is, since moving to Washington, I haven't had to be the one dealing with the full pressure - T has. Yet the fact we are able to team up and be a united front and discuss things - has helped the two of us. For example, let me tell you one of our latest interesting stories. And I hope you all learn from this....
One of our players (who has a great disposition btw) has a bad knee. A year ago she had surgery on it to repair a torn meniscus. Well I guess the knee didn't heal as hoped and now she has quite a bit of pain. In the end, the doctor basically advised her that she should just play through the pain and really, just tear the damn thing all the way through so they can do a clean repair. Interesting advice for a 14 year old but whatever. Well so the pain started a few weeks ago. She didn't practice one week, and then the next week leading up to our weekend tournament, she practiced sporadically and was not able to finish a training session. As it turns out, we had a keeper situation for this tournament. Our primary keeper was gone, the backup had a hand injury, and we tried to get a couple guest keepers but no dice. So the Thursday before our tournament, we advise our player that she is going to be the keeper part time, but that she is NOT going to play on the field. We discuss her knee with her and that we want to see her playing in full training sessions before we throw her into the mixer. But that she was good enough to at least be the keeper for the weekend. Another girl whose knee was iffy was also going to share the duties, but it appears that she was ok come tournament time. So after the first game, the player did really well in the goal. So we decided to continue playing her there since we were short players for the tournament, and that she could fill this void for us. We explain this to her - and she is good to go. We also explained to her that we are not looking to make her the keeper for the team and that we do look at her as a field player and that is what the focus for her will be after the tournament.
So we leave thinking - everything is ok. The player was totally fine, totally understood and we went our separate ways. Well then we get the email on Monday from mommy. Now let me tell you - we actually have had a pretty good relationship with the family for the past several years, so we found this to be a little interesting. So the mom states she is writing on behalf of her family. Remember that line because it is key. Then she goes on to express how bummed out her daughter was about playing keeper and that of course she wants to be a team player but then goes on about not understanding why she had to play there the whole time and that she thought she would be sharing keeper responsibilities and that we should do a better job of explaining the expectations and possibilities to her.
Absorb that in now.
Ok good, well so what do we do? We of course sent an email back to the parents explaining everything and that the information was communicated to her daughter and that her daughter was only ever going to play Keeper in the tournament, the question was simply half time and then sit on the bench or full time and someone else can play in the field. We have a rule that you have to be match fit in order to play and you have to be able to play through training sessions in order to play. This is not Rec soccer. We talk to the player at practice yesterday as remember, the mother said she was writing on behalf of her family - which includes her daughter. And you don't really think we are going to allow a pink elephant between the player and the coach like that do you? It turns out to begin with, the player did not know her mother even wrote the email, turns out the player was notably embarrassed that her mother did write an email and when informed of what was stated in the email. Even further was that the response we shared with the parent - was not communicated to the player. So we threw the mom under the bus with her kid and told her to go home and tell her mom to show her both the email she sent to us and also our response. To which the player said she would. Now remember these girls are now 14 and entering their freshman year of high school. Some of which will be 15 very soon. So the whole - mom you are now embarrassing me movement is starting to be in full force and will only increase substantially this year. Trust me - I not only remember from my youth, but I have seen this in a couple coaching cycles now.
So the beautiful thing about this was, momma and daddy bear were pissed caused they didn't get to see baby bear where she normally plays and they got freaked out that we were going to turn her into the goalie for the team and thus the email.
A lesson to you all, it is not necessary for you to fight your children's battles. If they do not learn how to navigate the waters of adversity, they will not learn to deal with it on their own. And the irony is,in this situation, the mother got her hands burnt by the coaches, made to feel dumb by illustrating that we had communicated expectations to the player (the player simply hadn't communicated that to the parents and quite honestly - the player doesn't have to) and then got her hands burnt by her daughter once the unknown secret was out. If that is the outcome that you are willing to incur as a parent - then by all means, go fight your kids battles. But parents need to take a step back and realize that this is their kids path and their kids choice and their kids decision on how to deal with things. And no, they aren't going to always make the right decision or know how to deal with things, but then the role of the parent is not to step in on behalf of the child, the role of the parent is to discuss with the child how they should deal with the situation. And then let the child go down their path and learn how to be strong and independent.
My parents did not fight my battles for me going back to as young as I can remember. And what I realized in my adult hood is that they were preparing me for life. They were preparing me for the realization that things are not always fair or just. People get away with things they shouldn't and it is how you deal with it that matters the most. In looking back, I am just fine that my parents didn't fight my battles for me. Could they have on a couple of things - yes and as a kid I may have wanted them to, but in the end, I also realized something very important - I never told them I wanted them to fight my battles, and it is a toss up over whether they would have stepped in or not anyway if I had. I have found too many times in my adult life - that I have had to stand up on my own two feet against the world. And if my parents had stepped in and tried to fight my battles for me as a child, I would not have the strength nor the courage to have stood up for myself in the adult world - when I so desperately needed to in order to defend my character and integrity.
In two years these children will be driving cars - operating what some could perceive as a deadly weapon and required to make wise choices. In 4 years they will be considered adults and held accountable for their actions by the world. By this age they have already passed 2/3 of their youth years. So how are you going to prep your child for their adult life? We hear stories of parents calling collegiate coaches to complain about things regarding their adult children and we think - wow, what gives you the right to think you even have a voice now? It is these moments that parents have to cut the umbilical cord. One that should have been cut a long long time ago.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Proud of the Fam
Here is a paper written by my younger sis who is currently getting her Master's in Ag Science - I am sure she has a specific major but I just don't remember at the moment. I know it isn't an exciting topic - but I sure am proud regardless...
Bekah's Paper Here
Bekah's Paper Here
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
My Life as a Customer Service Rep
Due to the absence of my coworker for maternity leave, I have had to step in and fill her role which is handling all of my company's customer service functions. Let's just say that I hate doing Customer Service.
So far in the past couple of weeks, to name a few things.... I have been:
- yelled at (via email) - because they expected me to jump to a task for them like I was a slave
- spoke down to (because of their lack of understanding)
- been threatened with legal action - he was a judge who couldn't remember he gave his credit card info to someone for an $8.25 transaction,
- and called a liar when it was she who was lying to me and I could prove it.....and of course I did prove it because I am a right fighter. However I gave her a credit because my boss didn't want bad press regardless.
I find it so hard sometimes in these situation to keep my cool and find a way to tactfully dissect the situation to find a resolution. The great thing is though - I am sending almost everything through email. I can resolve a situation in at least half the time it takes when I have to get on the phone with a customer. And it lets me know what I am dealing with before I deal with it. So far I think people are getting the hint. :)
Little do they know they are dealing with the A train...............
So far in the past couple of weeks, to name a few things.... I have been:
- yelled at (via email) - because they expected me to jump to a task for them like I was a slave
- spoke down to (because of their lack of understanding)
- been threatened with legal action - he was a judge who couldn't remember he gave his credit card info to someone for an $8.25 transaction,
- and called a liar when it was she who was lying to me and I could prove it.....and of course I did prove it because I am a right fighter. However I gave her a credit because my boss didn't want bad press regardless.
I find it so hard sometimes in these situation to keep my cool and find a way to tactfully dissect the situation to find a resolution. The great thing is though - I am sending almost everything through email. I can resolve a situation in at least half the time it takes when I have to get on the phone with a customer. And it lets me know what I am dealing with before I deal with it. So far I think people are getting the hint. :)
Little do they know they are dealing with the A train...............
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Smackdown: Mortgage Lesson 102
You have heard me rant and rave about my industry: mortgage.
And I think I have even told you how I made sure we were good with the mortgage on our house and we got a HELOC (home equity line of credit) in order to supplement and grow our business. Well I received notification from Chase (our lender) yesterday that they have shut down our HELOC due to making sure "homeowners are not borrowing more than their home is worth."
Now I agree with that principle - but what I don't agree with is how they came to determine that I am upside down and borrowing more than my home is worth. Well they used funny math. You know....the kind only used by financial institutions that the rest of us say - well that does not make sense. So here is what happened. They deemed that I was $30K in the hole already due to my current LTV (Loan to Value which is 80% of the home value)for both my first and second mortgage and therefore shut me down. But here is the kicker. Based on their automated valuation - I actually am $42 THOUSAND in the CLEAR!!!
1. What I mean by that is, if you take the amount of my first mortgage, add the LOC to that for a total.
2. Then take that total and subtract it against the value of the home - that means I have $42K in EQUITY before anyone needs to start panicking!!!!
And yet I am $30K in the hole according to their math. So how they arrived at their math was this:
1. They took the value of my home, multiplied it by 80% to equal my LTV. Then they said - well you are already in the red.
2. Then they took my LOC and added that to my 80% - making me more in the red.
I hate them. I hate them all. This basically has temporarily shut down my CSS business until we can figure out what our next move is. I can not tell you how pissed off I am at all this.
So lesson to you - know how they do the funny math. And you wonder why I hate this industry so much.
And I think I have even told you how I made sure we were good with the mortgage on our house and we got a HELOC (home equity line of credit) in order to supplement and grow our business. Well I received notification from Chase (our lender) yesterday that they have shut down our HELOC due to making sure "homeowners are not borrowing more than their home is worth."
Now I agree with that principle - but what I don't agree with is how they came to determine that I am upside down and borrowing more than my home is worth. Well they used funny math. You know....the kind only used by financial institutions that the rest of us say - well that does not make sense. So here is what happened. They deemed that I was $30K in the hole already due to my current LTV (Loan to Value which is 80% of the home value)for both my first and second mortgage and therefore shut me down. But here is the kicker. Based on their automated valuation - I actually am $42 THOUSAND in the CLEAR!!!
1. What I mean by that is, if you take the amount of my first mortgage, add the LOC to that for a total.
2. Then take that total and subtract it against the value of the home - that means I have $42K in EQUITY before anyone needs to start panicking!!!!
And yet I am $30K in the hole according to their math. So how they arrived at their math was this:
1. They took the value of my home, multiplied it by 80% to equal my LTV. Then they said - well you are already in the red.
2. Then they took my LOC and added that to my 80% - making me more in the red.
I hate them. I hate them all. This basically has temporarily shut down my CSS business until we can figure out what our next move is. I can not tell you how pissed off I am at all this.
So lesson to you - know how they do the funny math. And you wonder why I hate this industry so much.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
And this is why I love it so...
Tomorrow the US begins World Cup Qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. A long time to go and a lot of results needed to get to compete in one of the world's most impressive tournaments. The magnitude this game has - known as the people's game - brings with it an innate sense of pride and joy in one's country. One that many times we as Americans have funnelled our views simply to our domestic sports leagues.
But there is a whole crop of men from our country that seek to represent us on a stage packed with fierce competition. Often not being victorious as our European or South American counterparts. Our men weather adversity that we aren't familiar with in our day to day lives. And while we can feel confident of safe passage and enjoyment at a sporting event here, that is not the case in the rest of the world. Eleven men are picked to battle it out among the best in the world. Team, confidence, trust and pride mean everything in overcoming these challenges. And with that - I leave you a really good video - GO USA!
But there is a whole crop of men from our country that seek to represent us on a stage packed with fierce competition. Often not being victorious as our European or South American counterparts. Our men weather adversity that we aren't familiar with in our day to day lives. And while we can feel confident of safe passage and enjoyment at a sporting event here, that is not the case in the rest of the world. Eleven men are picked to battle it out among the best in the world. Team, confidence, trust and pride mean everything in overcoming these challenges. And with that - I leave you a really good video - GO USA!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Jumping Up and Down
So the most exciting news of my week is that my husband just walked by Michael Bradley at the Home Depot Center. He was 6 feet away from him. And because my husband is so cool what did he do for his wife? He took a picture of him (albeit from behind but who cares) and then he called me to tell me about it. Need a reminder of my perfect young honey?
And it looks like young Michael is headed to the English Premier League for next season with a supposed $6 million transfer fee to Middlesborough. Now, that isn't quite confirmed yet but they are the highest bidder. This means that in theory - I could watch every one of his games next year since I get the EPL games. I had to suffer through waiting for the Dutch highlights every week this last year to see 5 minutes of play. That was a bit torturous but I learned about the Dutch League in the process. The only question I have is, how many matches will I have to wait before I see him play.....until then, I get all summer long to watch him in international friendlies, world cup qualifiers, and the Olympics. Ohhh it is a good summer for me.
And it looks like young Michael is headed to the English Premier League for next season with a supposed $6 million transfer fee to Middlesborough. Now, that isn't quite confirmed yet but they are the highest bidder. This means that in theory - I could watch every one of his games next year since I get the EPL games. I had to suffer through waiting for the Dutch highlights every week this last year to see 5 minutes of play. That was a bit torturous but I learned about the Dutch League in the process. The only question I have is, how many matches will I have to wait before I see him play.....until then, I get all summer long to watch him in international friendlies, world cup qualifiers, and the Olympics. Ohhh it is a good summer for me.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Bad Bad Mommy
While all around me people are either having babies or have babies or toddlers, I am only a mom to my two kitties. Thank goodness too - I'm doing good with the very low key game plan we have going on here. And it is in these moments that I find myself going - that wasn't very smart. Then I say - I'm glad it was only my cat and not my child I oopsed!
What was I doing you ask?
Having an Athena moment is what I was doing. It is the other half of my sauvant side. LOL
So my precious Bambarelli is a beautiful (I'm not biased or anything btw) and fluffy like a bunny cat. Her hair is long and fine so it easily matts up and it becomes a problem for her. So I am a little tenacious with her and these matts and especially since I hate the matts...... but she hates the scissors. So I have to entice her with petting in order to sucker her into cutting her hair off. So as I was focusing on distracting her, I cut a matt off the side of her cheek. I had to do it at a pretty funny angle though cause I was multi tasking. Now I didn't think much of it until I pulled the glob of hair away and her head turned and the light behind her showed me something funny.......well....it's kind of funny now.....
I cut off all the whiskers on her right side. :/
You can barely tell in the picture - but those stubs you see - its not the angle - look at the other side. I cut 4 inches of all her whiskers off. And when you look at her now - she looks lopsided - and she just looks at me like, "aren't you going to pet me mommy?"
What was I doing you ask?
Having an Athena moment is what I was doing. It is the other half of my sauvant side. LOL
So my precious Bambarelli is a beautiful (I'm not biased or anything btw) and fluffy like a bunny cat. Her hair is long and fine so it easily matts up and it becomes a problem for her. So I am a little tenacious with her and these matts and especially since I hate the matts...... but she hates the scissors. So I have to entice her with petting in order to sucker her into cutting her hair off. So as I was focusing on distracting her, I cut a matt off the side of her cheek. I had to do it at a pretty funny angle though cause I was multi tasking. Now I didn't think much of it until I pulled the glob of hair away and her head turned and the light behind her showed me something funny.......well....it's kind of funny now.....
I cut off all the whiskers on her right side. :/
You can barely tell in the picture - but those stubs you see - its not the angle - look at the other side. I cut 4 inches of all her whiskers off. And when you look at her now - she looks lopsided - and she just looks at me like, "aren't you going to pet me mommy?"
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Love Thy Self
So one of the goals I set for myself this year was to go through a bunch of storage boxes in my garage. Basically stuff going back to my years as a wee tot. After cleaning that area I will then be able to clean up our third bedroom- which has simply been named "the storage room" - by moving stuff from that room into the garage. So I tackled step one this weekend, and I got to tell you - some funny stuff I pulled out. And since I was laughing my ass off at my younger self, I felt the need to share some moments with you, so you can have a chuckle as well. I guess it seems I have stayed true to myself all these years. :) Rebecca - I suggest not having any liquid in your mouth for fear you might choke with laughter.
Memory #1 - Letter to Santa
December 12, 1998
Dear Santa Claus,
My name is Athena. I am eleven. I am fine. How are you? Are your reindeer fat?
I want only a few presents this year. I guess I can't think of any. Well I have to do more work.
Merry Christmas
First off - I cannot believe I still believed in Santa Clause at 11.....secondly, who else but my eleven year old self would have asked Santa Claus if his reindeer were fat? And then I can't even think of any presents!!! That is amazingly a rare moment.
Memory #2 - Letter to my mom - somewhere between 3rd grade and 6th grade.
Dear Mommy,
You pray and follow our religion just like you should. You are very religious. You do these things as Mary would. You pray. You also don't stick exactly to our religion and I'm grateful for that, because then we couldn't have fun.
Love,
Your daughter
LMFAO - I can't even imagine what my mom must have thought when she read this!! And I was probably just grinning from ear to ear innocently when I gave it to her! OMG that is good stuff. I only wish I could remember how mommy wasn't sticking to her religion and what it was we did that was so fun! LOL
Aren't kids just little miracles.........
Memory #1 - Letter to Santa
December 12, 1998
Dear Santa Claus,
My name is Athena. I am eleven. I am fine. How are you? Are your reindeer fat?
I want only a few presents this year. I guess I can't think of any. Well I have to do more work.
Merry Christmas
First off - I cannot believe I still believed in Santa Clause at 11.....secondly, who else but my eleven year old self would have asked Santa Claus if his reindeer were fat? And then I can't even think of any presents!!! That is amazingly a rare moment.
Memory #2 - Letter to my mom - somewhere between 3rd grade and 6th grade.
Dear Mommy,
You pray and follow our religion just like you should. You are very religious. You do these things as Mary would. You pray. You also don't stick exactly to our religion and I'm grateful for that, because then we couldn't have fun.
Love,
Your daughter
LMFAO - I can't even imagine what my mom must have thought when she read this!! And I was probably just grinning from ear to ear innocently when I gave it to her! OMG that is good stuff. I only wish I could remember how mommy wasn't sticking to her religion and what it was we did that was so fun! LOL
Aren't kids just little miracles.........
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Au natural
After St Lucia, I cut my hair short again . Tony had said he wanted to see my natural hair color so here it is. My mom said she wanted to see too since she wasn't sure what it was either. :) To see a comparison - just look at my picture to the right.
Notice my support for my beloved Manchester United!!! Who happened to win the English Premier League this season!
The tips are a little blonde cause I didn't want to cut it that short. But they will be gone in the next hair cut.
Notice my support for my beloved Manchester United!!! Who happened to win the English Premier League this season!
The tips are a little blonde cause I didn't want to cut it that short. But they will be gone in the next hair cut.
The CSS Shirts
I have finally gotten around to taking pictures of the shirts for our soccer business. The tshirts are for the athletes and the polos are for coaches. Here they are:
Tshirt & Polo front - with our black and white logo
Logo detail on the polo
Back of t-shirt, which has a cool design image. I figured it would go over well with the teenagers.
Tshirt & Polo front - with our black and white logo
Logo detail on the polo
Back of t-shirt, which has a cool design image. I figured it would go over well with the teenagers.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
St Lucia Part III
Sorry I have taken a few more days to post - I had some things pop up. But some good news before I relive more vacation time - our soccer site for player profiles and coaches to search is almost done! And it looks awesome!! I am excited to grow our business and really see what we can do with the last pieces in place. Our shirts have come in as well. I will post soon a pic showing what our shirts look like so you can share in our excitedness!
Back to St Lucia. So you saw the pictures of around the place, and I mentioned the places to eat. So we had several choices of restaurant to eat at - all in the resort. The food was good - it wasn't great - just because you do all inclusive doesn't mean 5 star - but it means you most likely aren't getting Taco Bell either. :) But one of the things I love the most about the food - was the serving sizes. I felt like it was perfect for me! It was very small servings - but the great thing was - you got to have some bread, a salad, an appetizer, the entree and even a desert. And because you didn't have the American Supersize meal - you could actually eat all of it. It was awesome because I love to sample like that!
So we ate at the Pavilion 2 nights - the first and last, then we had Italian one night - and the irony about the Italian place was, you got yourself a wine list - but only the Beringer wines were part of the "all-inclusive". So you can imagine my surprise when I opened the wine list to see prices of $100 bottles. Then of course came the awkward moment of - excuse me sir - can you explain the wine prices please? Yeah - so note to you, if you ever do all inclusive and you see a price tag - be suspicious and make sure to ask - cause otherwise they just charge that right to your room and it's too easy to pay for it. I of course stuck with the free wine and champagne. :)
We also went to a Japanese Steakhouse which was fun and you got a great view out glass windows over the water. It was a 10 people sit down style and we had a lot of fun. We had the best waiter - Kennedy who was so polite that everything you said was responded to with a "No Pressure No Problem" in an island voice. This is us at the Steakhouse I believe after 3 glasses of champagne and a saki bomb:
Then there was the "5 star" French Restaurant. So we show up all dressed up, get seated and proceed to go through our courses. The tables were pretty tight so we were only 2 feet away from the next group of couples. We were finishing up with our entree and then a waitress came over to fill up my champagne. But as she turned the corner I saw her stop, get a surprised look on her face, recoil and then back away. And I think to myself - now what would make a person do that? Well I of course just had to look......what did I find?
This would be Larry the Lizard. Actually he is Leonard the Lizards cousin. We didn't have our camera on us that night so we snapped a picture of Larry by our patio so I could of course come home and tell this fabulous story on my blog.
Yes that is correct - there was a lizard eating dinner with us. However, Leonard's tail was broken - we think Tony stepped on him under our table and that is why he scurried from under it to hang out between our table and the next couple. As soon as they saw the lizard - they were like - ok we are done. So I of course think this waitress has told someone (which she had) and that someone is going to come over and remove Leonard. Hmmmm.....as the minutes passed and no one came, I finally motioned to a waiter to come over. I then politely asked if he could remove our friend. Me thinking he was a native, thought he would just pick it up by the tail and go take it somewhere. Yeah that would be a big fat negative ghostrider! What does he do instead? he shuffle kicks the lizard with his shoe - at one point turning it upside down so it starts doing his little leg wiggle that just creeps me out. And then he kicks it underneath the table behind Tony - AND THEN HE JUST WALKS OFF and says - he's gone!!!! ARE YOU FOR REAL?? So that was our interesting island story.
Other than that we ate at the bistro cafe for lunch most of the days - and we took a picture:
We then took some pictures of a few things:
Cruise ship sailing out of the Port of Castries right around the corner from us:
There was a pirate ship too and that I posted on flickr.
A cool picture of a Native on the pier.....
The catamaran that I really wanted to go on - but Tony got flambeed so that didn't happen.
The paddle bike that looked like a really fun idea until we thought about just how much peddling one must do to get out and back in. We decided that was probably going to be a little too much work for vacation!
And then comes the last oddity. Have you ever gotten those emails that show you pictures of odd nature things??? Well right in front of the Gazebo was this tree. And Tony made the statement that his ancestors believed that this tree would have been a fertility tree. Now I can understand why - it looks like it has a great big VAGINA on it! You can't tell me you don't agree - cause I know you would be lying to yourself. It's ok - you can laugh - I sure did! but it isn't too many times you get to see something with your own eyes that you normally see in those email forwards you wonder if they are photoshopped.
So that was pretty much our vacation in a nutshell. I got to lay out a lot, drink a lot, rest a lot and not prepare any of my meals - that was a pretty highlight. In the end, we got back home only to have most of our luggage not come out since it didn't make the flight from Atlanta - so they delivered it the next day. But we waked out to see.............
SNOW
Yes we came home to snow in Seattle in April. Odd. And then a few days later I cut off all my braids and hair - because I have been trying to grow out my natural color for Tony. I don't have a picture of it yet - but I will get one and post it up - Momma Susan said she wanted a picture cause she doesn't know what my hair color is either! So I figure, I'll take a picture and then we can all see. I think some of you might be surprised at what it is. :)
Back to St Lucia. So you saw the pictures of around the place, and I mentioned the places to eat. So we had several choices of restaurant to eat at - all in the resort. The food was good - it wasn't great - just because you do all inclusive doesn't mean 5 star - but it means you most likely aren't getting Taco Bell either. :) But one of the things I love the most about the food - was the serving sizes. I felt like it was perfect for me! It was very small servings - but the great thing was - you got to have some bread, a salad, an appetizer, the entree and even a desert. And because you didn't have the American Supersize meal - you could actually eat all of it. It was awesome because I love to sample like that!
So we ate at the Pavilion 2 nights - the first and last, then we had Italian one night - and the irony about the Italian place was, you got yourself a wine list - but only the Beringer wines were part of the "all-inclusive". So you can imagine my surprise when I opened the wine list to see prices of $100 bottles. Then of course came the awkward moment of - excuse me sir - can you explain the wine prices please? Yeah - so note to you, if you ever do all inclusive and you see a price tag - be suspicious and make sure to ask - cause otherwise they just charge that right to your room and it's too easy to pay for it. I of course stuck with the free wine and champagne. :)
We also went to a Japanese Steakhouse which was fun and you got a great view out glass windows over the water. It was a 10 people sit down style and we had a lot of fun. We had the best waiter - Kennedy who was so polite that everything you said was responded to with a "No Pressure No Problem" in an island voice. This is us at the Steakhouse I believe after 3 glasses of champagne and a saki bomb:
Then there was the "5 star" French Restaurant. So we show up all dressed up, get seated and proceed to go through our courses. The tables were pretty tight so we were only 2 feet away from the next group of couples. We were finishing up with our entree and then a waitress came over to fill up my champagne. But as she turned the corner I saw her stop, get a surprised look on her face, recoil and then back away. And I think to myself - now what would make a person do that? Well I of course just had to look......what did I find?
This would be Larry the Lizard. Actually he is Leonard the Lizards cousin. We didn't have our camera on us that night so we snapped a picture of Larry by our patio so I could of course come home and tell this fabulous story on my blog.
Yes that is correct - there was a lizard eating dinner with us. However, Leonard's tail was broken - we think Tony stepped on him under our table and that is why he scurried from under it to hang out between our table and the next couple. As soon as they saw the lizard - they were like - ok we are done. So I of course think this waitress has told someone (which she had) and that someone is going to come over and remove Leonard. Hmmmm.....as the minutes passed and no one came, I finally motioned to a waiter to come over. I then politely asked if he could remove our friend. Me thinking he was a native, thought he would just pick it up by the tail and go take it somewhere. Yeah that would be a big fat negative ghostrider! What does he do instead? he shuffle kicks the lizard with his shoe - at one point turning it upside down so it starts doing his little leg wiggle that just creeps me out. And then he kicks it underneath the table behind Tony - AND THEN HE JUST WALKS OFF and says - he's gone!!!! ARE YOU FOR REAL?? So that was our interesting island story.
Other than that we ate at the bistro cafe for lunch most of the days - and we took a picture:
We then took some pictures of a few things:
Cruise ship sailing out of the Port of Castries right around the corner from us:
There was a pirate ship too and that I posted on flickr.
A cool picture of a Native on the pier.....
The catamaran that I really wanted to go on - but Tony got flambeed so that didn't happen.
The paddle bike that looked like a really fun idea until we thought about just how much peddling one must do to get out and back in. We decided that was probably going to be a little too much work for vacation!
And then comes the last oddity. Have you ever gotten those emails that show you pictures of odd nature things??? Well right in front of the Gazebo was this tree. And Tony made the statement that his ancestors believed that this tree would have been a fertility tree. Now I can understand why - it looks like it has a great big VAGINA on it! You can't tell me you don't agree - cause I know you would be lying to yourself. It's ok - you can laugh - I sure did! but it isn't too many times you get to see something with your own eyes that you normally see in those email forwards you wonder if they are photoshopped.
So that was pretty much our vacation in a nutshell. I got to lay out a lot, drink a lot, rest a lot and not prepare any of my meals - that was a pretty highlight. In the end, we got back home only to have most of our luggage not come out since it didn't make the flight from Atlanta - so they delivered it the next day. But we waked out to see.............
SNOW
Yes we came home to snow in Seattle in April. Odd. And then a few days later I cut off all my braids and hair - because I have been trying to grow out my natural color for Tony. I don't have a picture of it yet - but I will get one and post it up - Momma Susan said she wanted a picture cause she doesn't know what my hair color is either! So I figure, I'll take a picture and then we can all see. I think some of you might be surprised at what it is. :)
Monday, April 28, 2008
St Lucia Part II
So we get to our room and I have to confess. I was ruing a little bit before we got there about not being able to get the room with the private plunge pool attached. It basically was like a mini pool for two people. But it was $4K....so there was just no way we were doing that. The good news is when we got there, I was actually much happier with the room we got than if we had been in one of those rooms that has a private pool. And let me now illustrate why. This was our room. And yes, that is my passed out self lying on the beach chair. We are the bottom one in the middle.
As you can tell, it resembles an apartment or condo patio. Not real big but semi private. And easy access to the outside. Within 50 feet of us we have these things:
The Spa that I had my full head braided. Tony kept calling me a Caribbean Princess. :) You will see the braids in a bit. I also got a hot rock massage. That was needed and I have to say - it fixed my back until the flight back.
And this lovely Gazebo that we spent many an hour sitting in and enjoying the ocean and the surf hitting the beach.
I will discuss the tree in another post.
And then there was the hammock right next to it that had my creative writing juices flowing. I love hammocks. You can sit in one near the ocean, close your eyes, feel the breeze and you can actually feel yourself moving even when you aren't. It's awesome. I have always wanted a hammock. And check out my braids!
Don't forget the beach access to the left of the Gazebo.
And then 100 feet away there was the Pavilion and Pool with the Swim Up Bar. The pool was awesome cause it was like one big giant wading pool that you could swim if you wanted but could walk around it and with your drink. Or you could just sit on a tiled stool at the swim up bar. That was quite fun especially since you didn't need any money nor worrying about tipping the bartender. The pool also had a grotto style waterfall and enclosure and wrapped around a couple different ways. What I can tell you I loved was not hearing any screaming children. Not getting kicked in the gut by a little kid that swam underneath you in the water. Not worrying about the trace amounts of urine in the pool. No cannonballs next to you. And you want to know something great? There was no NO DIVING sign. Why? Because we were all adults and can figure out that one on our own thank you very much.
So the Pavilion is where we ate our breakfast which I loved! I got omelets every day. They had some great banana bread, coffee cake, and some type of custard bread that was like a bread pudding. It was awesome and if I can figure out exactly what they did - which I have an idea, then I am going to make sure and make it for you when you come out and see us. :) The Pavilion was an open air eating place where the roof was vaulted about 30 feet with pillars that supported the roof. You could also eat a buffet lunch if you wanted as well as dinner. The funny thing about the Pavilion was the birds. Since it was open air, there were these pigeons and black birds that would hang out and do these diving raids to scarf up food bits from the plates waiting to be bused. I kept waiting to be shat upon by one of these birds overhead - but I never did experience or see it so it must not be a problem. One of the ladies actually said when the birds get desperate usually off feeding hours, they will swoop down and grab the sugar packets and peck at those. Crazy man.
I digressed on the birds. So the whole point I was illustrating above was how close all the things that I enjoyed (including the ping pong table but I didn't think you needed a picture of that), was so much closer and easily accessible than the rooms with the private plunge pools as illustrated in the picture below.
Are you squinting trying to see what I am talking about? That's how I felt too.
Yes that is correct - those houses up on the bluff where your beach access is cliff diving. And you have to take a van for a little ride down a crazy inclined hill to get to brunch. Yes I am lazy and the walk would have done me good - but I wasn't at fitness camp! And this is a good illustration on when going to the beach - identify how close you want your beach access in your room selection. There were some people who only got a sliding door that opened - no patio. And the slew of patios facing the pool. So the room turned out great. It had a four king poster bed which was decently comfortable and get this - we had a 48 inch flat screen TV in our room that ALSO came with satellite that made it possible for this footy girl to see her monstrous United Arsenal game that she thought she was going to miss on vacation. Tony and I were pretty stoked about that!
To be continued...
As you can tell, it resembles an apartment or condo patio. Not real big but semi private. And easy access to the outside. Within 50 feet of us we have these things:
The Spa that I had my full head braided. Tony kept calling me a Caribbean Princess. :) You will see the braids in a bit. I also got a hot rock massage. That was needed and I have to say - it fixed my back until the flight back.
And this lovely Gazebo that we spent many an hour sitting in and enjoying the ocean and the surf hitting the beach.
I will discuss the tree in another post.
And then there was the hammock right next to it that had my creative writing juices flowing. I love hammocks. You can sit in one near the ocean, close your eyes, feel the breeze and you can actually feel yourself moving even when you aren't. It's awesome. I have always wanted a hammock. And check out my braids!
Don't forget the beach access to the left of the Gazebo.
And then 100 feet away there was the Pavilion and Pool with the Swim Up Bar. The pool was awesome cause it was like one big giant wading pool that you could swim if you wanted but could walk around it and with your drink. Or you could just sit on a tiled stool at the swim up bar. That was quite fun especially since you didn't need any money nor worrying about tipping the bartender. The pool also had a grotto style waterfall and enclosure and wrapped around a couple different ways. What I can tell you I loved was not hearing any screaming children. Not getting kicked in the gut by a little kid that swam underneath you in the water. Not worrying about the trace amounts of urine in the pool. No cannonballs next to you. And you want to know something great? There was no NO DIVING sign. Why? Because we were all adults and can figure out that one on our own thank you very much.
So the Pavilion is where we ate our breakfast which I loved! I got omelets every day. They had some great banana bread, coffee cake, and some type of custard bread that was like a bread pudding. It was awesome and if I can figure out exactly what they did - which I have an idea, then I am going to make sure and make it for you when you come out and see us. :) The Pavilion was an open air eating place where the roof was vaulted about 30 feet with pillars that supported the roof. You could also eat a buffet lunch if you wanted as well as dinner. The funny thing about the Pavilion was the birds. Since it was open air, there were these pigeons and black birds that would hang out and do these diving raids to scarf up food bits from the plates waiting to be bused. I kept waiting to be shat upon by one of these birds overhead - but I never did experience or see it so it must not be a problem. One of the ladies actually said when the birds get desperate usually off feeding hours, they will swoop down and grab the sugar packets and peck at those. Crazy man.
I digressed on the birds. So the whole point I was illustrating above was how close all the things that I enjoyed (including the ping pong table but I didn't think you needed a picture of that), was so much closer and easily accessible than the rooms with the private plunge pools as illustrated in the picture below.
Are you squinting trying to see what I am talking about? That's how I felt too.
Yes that is correct - those houses up on the bluff where your beach access is cliff diving. And you have to take a van for a little ride down a crazy inclined hill to get to brunch. Yes I am lazy and the walk would have done me good - but I wasn't at fitness camp! And this is a good illustration on when going to the beach - identify how close you want your beach access in your room selection. There were some people who only got a sliding door that opened - no patio. And the slew of patios facing the pool. So the room turned out great. It had a four king poster bed which was decently comfortable and get this - we had a 48 inch flat screen TV in our room that ALSO came with satellite that made it possible for this footy girl to see her monstrous United Arsenal game that she thought she was going to miss on vacation. Tony and I were pretty stoked about that!
To be continued...
Sunday, April 27, 2008
St Lucia Part I
So we started out the trip by leaving on a red eye to Atlanta at 10:40PM Friday night. Now it wasn't that bad because we had first class tickets for this whole trip. Tony and I have decided that if we ever have to travel for an extended period of time like this again - we will be doing first class....or we just can't afford to go. I can not tell you how much it saved my knees and my back to have that extra bit of comfort and space. So after Atlanta we had another 4 hours to St Lucia. At one point through my travels, I noticed I was flying over some islands in the Caribbean and I wanted to know what I had flown over so i took a picture with my handy dandy IPhone. What I found is I was flying over the Bahamas. The Bahamas truly have some of the most beautiful water in the world - and it amazes me when looking from an aerial view.
When we landed in St Lucia at 2PM (one hour ahead of Eastern Time) we waited for our bags to come out and finally our big one came out. Only it turns out it wasn't OUR bag and we found this out..........oh.........back at the resort. Yeah - opened the bag and Tony asked me if those were our clothes and I thought........oh no way, those are too ugly. But you know, we really thought we were safe traveling with a big silver swiss army suitcase. Didn't think many people had those, much less traveling on our flight. So back at the airport we go through customs and as soon as you go through customs these large black men with luggage carts start belowing out 'SANDALS??" And you're like - yeah, Sandals - that's us. Now remember, our trip was an all inclusive - so we are thinking everything is paid for right? Well it it. As long as it is through the resort! So we give the guy our luggage - everyone is doing the same thing. He rolls through these two swinging doors and goes about 100 feet, stops, removes our luggage, tells us to check in at this makeshift booth and then holds out his hand and says "this is a tipping service".
Tipping service? For what? This dude rolled our bags 100 feet.
So Tony takes out the only cash we have which is $6. Gives him the $1, and the guy glares at him. Of course Tony just smiled at him. And then this happened to be a sore spot on how we got suckered on something in a different country right when we land. So learning lesson for you if you ever have that happen. Just carry your own bags!
We then proceeded to have an hour drive in a eurovan through the tropical island of St Lucia. We passed by their Olympic stadium that they use to play both cricket and soccer. We saw a lot of the countryside which was very much a third world country. And that was a good reminder. It was very tropical. We saw lots of women on the sides of the roads selling their various fruits and vegetables. Besides tourism, banana is their biggest export crop. So we were able to see banana plantations all over the place. We saw some prostitutes, drug dealers and then a slew of various people. Houses were shanties mixed in between nice houses or businesses. It was difficult to tell what a business from a house just by looking at the building structure. Lots of houses were on concrete stilts to help protect from flooding. We saw soccer pitches throughout our little trip as well - but no one was playing on them. They brew their own beer on the island called Piton as well as their own liquors and Cocoa Cola. As custom with many Caribbean islands, I believe St Lucians speak both English and French. Often interchanging languages mid sentence.
After arriving at the hotel we realized our luggage screw up and thank goodness found out the guy whose luggage we had was at the hotel. But we weren't sure how we were going to get it back, cause of some helicopter delivery service the guy had ordered for himself. So we went to the gift shop to get me something to wear temporarily cause after that much travel I was gross and wanted out of my clothes and we weren't even sure if we were getting our clothes back. However, that was an expensive trip to the gift shop to only get three items. Lesson learned...next time, check the name on your luggage tag!
I will continue this post tomorrow..........
When we landed in St Lucia at 2PM (one hour ahead of Eastern Time) we waited for our bags to come out and finally our big one came out. Only it turns out it wasn't OUR bag and we found this out..........oh.........back at the resort. Yeah - opened the bag and Tony asked me if those were our clothes and I thought........oh no way, those are too ugly. But you know, we really thought we were safe traveling with a big silver swiss army suitcase. Didn't think many people had those, much less traveling on our flight. So back at the airport we go through customs and as soon as you go through customs these large black men with luggage carts start belowing out 'SANDALS??" And you're like - yeah, Sandals - that's us. Now remember, our trip was an all inclusive - so we are thinking everything is paid for right? Well it it. As long as it is through the resort! So we give the guy our luggage - everyone is doing the same thing. He rolls through these two swinging doors and goes about 100 feet, stops, removes our luggage, tells us to check in at this makeshift booth and then holds out his hand and says "this is a tipping service".
Tipping service? For what? This dude rolled our bags 100 feet.
So Tony takes out the only cash we have which is $6. Gives him the $1, and the guy glares at him. Of course Tony just smiled at him. And then this happened to be a sore spot on how we got suckered on something in a different country right when we land. So learning lesson for you if you ever have that happen. Just carry your own bags!
We then proceeded to have an hour drive in a eurovan through the tropical island of St Lucia. We passed by their Olympic stadium that they use to play both cricket and soccer. We saw a lot of the countryside which was very much a third world country. And that was a good reminder. It was very tropical. We saw lots of women on the sides of the roads selling their various fruits and vegetables. Besides tourism, banana is their biggest export crop. So we were able to see banana plantations all over the place. We saw some prostitutes, drug dealers and then a slew of various people. Houses were shanties mixed in between nice houses or businesses. It was difficult to tell what a business from a house just by looking at the building structure. Lots of houses were on concrete stilts to help protect from flooding. We saw soccer pitches throughout our little trip as well - but no one was playing on them. They brew their own beer on the island called Piton as well as their own liquors and Cocoa Cola. As custom with many Caribbean islands, I believe St Lucians speak both English and French. Often interchanging languages mid sentence.
After arriving at the hotel we realized our luggage screw up and thank goodness found out the guy whose luggage we had was at the hotel. But we weren't sure how we were going to get it back, cause of some helicopter delivery service the guy had ordered for himself. So we went to the gift shop to get me something to wear temporarily cause after that much travel I was gross and wanted out of my clothes and we weren't even sure if we were getting our clothes back. However, that was an expensive trip to the gift shop to only get three items. Lesson learned...next time, check the name on your luggage tag!
I will continue this post tomorrow..........
Friday, April 25, 2008
I'm Back
Ok well I have actually been back for almost a week now but I have had a lot of little things going on. And it has taken me a spell to upload pictures and for some reason they aren't all uploading quite right. I plan to have pics for people to see this weekend along with some commentary on my blog.
As to how everything went - it went good. I have a nice tan - that is starting to fade already. And I cut my hair short after having it in braids for a week, resulting in seeing my natural hair color for maybe the second time in my life. I'm not really sure how I feel about the color but T wants me to keep it this way for awhile so......we'll keep it for awhile and see if it grows on me. No pun intended.
As to other events going on, the kitties are good of course. Other than being very needy upon our return. Those poor neglected little fluff balls. All the food and water then can have - a semi ok litter box. Warm house to snuggle and romp in. Toys to play with - oh the woe they must feel! LOL
Played in my women's game last night which I got to be a forward - I love that! Sometimes I have to play center mid and that is tougher. We played 11v8, then 11v9, then 11v10 by the second half. Needless to say we played with no insistence in the first half and as a result put ourselves in a bad position in second half. We went up 1-0 from a GREAT run that YOURS TRULY made all the way down the right flank, cutting in toward the box and making a great square pass in front of goal to our lone player that got forward with me. She got caught up with the keeper but the ball landed at her feet 1 foot from goal and did a back heel kick into goal. Then we had some poor defensive mistakes and allowed them to have some breakaway runs - so they tied it 1-1. Then......I pulled a Ronaldo.
I ended up battling for the ball with their sweeper in two small skirmishes in a row and then she took a bad touch and I realized – 50/50 in the box. I probably wasn’t going to get there but I was going to force it and see if I could get the ball or a call. We both went in hard, I angled my shoulder down into her and stretched my leg. Barely getting the ball - and she swiped me. Now the reality is, it was just a good hard challenge and most likely other refs would not have called the penalty - but you never know and if you don't try - you'll never know if you can get the goal. I got the call – although really, I probably shouldn’t have gotten the call. It’s a penalty!!!! At that moment, I was tired from battling and running. I had been knocked down pretty good – which I of course took the girl with me. But nonetheless - lots of times if you have been knocked down - you shouldn't take the kick. And my eye is all blurred – I have had some eye infection for two weeks and last night playing it got real bad. Driving home was not good either. So I asked three girls if they wanted to take it – seeing as I felt I wasn’t probably the best candidate at the moment. Everyone shrugged it off. So I set the ball, took my steps, looked at the ref, he blew the whistle. I ran up, struck and…………………………………………………….
Right to the keeper…........dead center. For crying out loud Athena – DO BETTER!!!! It would have put us up 2-1. We ended up losing 2-1 and I was so pissed at myself. Can you believe that? The only thing worse would have been if I shanked the ball around the goal. At least I got it on frame. Our keeper was joking at the end that if the keeper had just dived like they all do then I would have scored! True seeing as many PK's scored even in pro matches are dead center and the keeper dived - whereas if he had just stood still he would have made the save. So in the end - I hope I get another chance to make up for that mistake. I don't like making those kinds of bad mistakes. So just like Ronaldo in the second minute of the Barcelona game this week - I missed the penalty that could have saved the day and turned the match around.
As to how everything went - it went good. I have a nice tan - that is starting to fade already. And I cut my hair short after having it in braids for a week, resulting in seeing my natural hair color for maybe the second time in my life. I'm not really sure how I feel about the color but T wants me to keep it this way for awhile so......we'll keep it for awhile and see if it grows on me. No pun intended.
As to other events going on, the kitties are good of course. Other than being very needy upon our return. Those poor neglected little fluff balls. All the food and water then can have - a semi ok litter box. Warm house to snuggle and romp in. Toys to play with - oh the woe they must feel! LOL
Played in my women's game last night which I got to be a forward - I love that! Sometimes I have to play center mid and that is tougher. We played 11v8, then 11v9, then 11v10 by the second half. Needless to say we played with no insistence in the first half and as a result put ourselves in a bad position in second half. We went up 1-0 from a GREAT run that YOURS TRULY made all the way down the right flank, cutting in toward the box and making a great square pass in front of goal to our lone player that got forward with me. She got caught up with the keeper but the ball landed at her feet 1 foot from goal and did a back heel kick into goal. Then we had some poor defensive mistakes and allowed them to have some breakaway runs - so they tied it 1-1. Then......I pulled a Ronaldo.
I ended up battling for the ball with their sweeper in two small skirmishes in a row and then she took a bad touch and I realized – 50/50 in the box. I probably wasn’t going to get there but I was going to force it and see if I could get the ball or a call. We both went in hard, I angled my shoulder down into her and stretched my leg. Barely getting the ball - and she swiped me. Now the reality is, it was just a good hard challenge and most likely other refs would not have called the penalty - but you never know and if you don't try - you'll never know if you can get the goal. I got the call – although really, I probably shouldn’t have gotten the call. It’s a penalty!!!! At that moment, I was tired from battling and running. I had been knocked down pretty good – which I of course took the girl with me. But nonetheless - lots of times if you have been knocked down - you shouldn't take the kick. And my eye is all blurred – I have had some eye infection for two weeks and last night playing it got real bad. Driving home was not good either. So I asked three girls if they wanted to take it – seeing as I felt I wasn’t probably the best candidate at the moment. Everyone shrugged it off. So I set the ball, took my steps, looked at the ref, he blew the whistle. I ran up, struck and…………………………………………………….
Right to the keeper…........dead center. For crying out loud Athena – DO BETTER!!!! It would have put us up 2-1. We ended up losing 2-1 and I was so pissed at myself. Can you believe that? The only thing worse would have been if I shanked the ball around the goal. At least I got it on frame. Our keeper was joking at the end that if the keeper had just dived like they all do then I would have scored! True seeing as many PK's scored even in pro matches are dead center and the keeper dived - whereas if he had just stood still he would have made the save. So in the end - I hope I get another chance to make up for that mistake. I don't like making those kinds of bad mistakes. So just like Ronaldo in the second minute of the Barcelona game this week - I missed the penalty that could have saved the day and turned the match around.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Au revoir Mes Amies
In case I got my French wrong or you just don't know what that means it means Buh Bye my friends. I'm OUTTA HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
St Lucia, here I come!
St Lucia, here I come!
Ideology and Reality
Most have seen this before - and while I am not a Gates worhsipper, I do think it pertinent to life.
Bill Gates gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.
Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule: 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
Bill Gates gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.
Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule: 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
Monday, March 31, 2008
USA 3 - 0 Poland
All in all a good days work for our MNT! Set pieces was the theme of the day for our boys in Poland last week - Im late posting is all. Bob Bradley has done a good job with our team so far and establishing international friendlies with decent counterparts. If we can keep this kind of momentum going - then World Cup 2010 looks like it has a bright future for the US! At the very least -w e get to play England at Wembley in June - ah, if only I could be there........
Monday, March 24, 2008
I finally gave in......
I've been fighting it for about 8 months now. The urge to buy the iPhone. It's expensive! But with my birthday came some money and since I get an allowance from work for cell phone usage - it really is not costing me anything extra on my plan.
So I did it - I bought it. I cannot even explain to you how cool it is. I mean, it is so easy - I have everything set up - and I never even had to use a User Guide. How cool is it you ask?
Well, for starters, I can access the Internet.
I can consolidate all my contacts including everything I would ever have in a day planner.
I can access my CSS email automatically as well!
My iPod music is consolidated in here.
And when I go on vacation in a month - we can upload movies to it and watch movies on the airplane through the iPhone.
Oh and wait - I can take notes and store them.
AND I even have quick access to YouTube - AND because of that........I of course already have my Michael Bradley YouTube videos book marked. :) I am in heaven.
iPhone
So I did it - I bought it. I cannot even explain to you how cool it is. I mean, it is so easy - I have everything set up - and I never even had to use a User Guide. How cool is it you ask?
Well, for starters, I can access the Internet.
I can consolidate all my contacts including everything I would ever have in a day planner.
I can access my CSS email automatically as well!
My iPod music is consolidated in here.
And when I go on vacation in a month - we can upload movies to it and watch movies on the airplane through the iPhone.
Oh and wait - I can take notes and store them.
AND I even have quick access to YouTube - AND because of that........I of course already have my Michael Bradley YouTube videos book marked. :) I am in heaven.
iPhone
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