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Headlamps an Stuff

27 Feb

I have been sick since Sunday and instead of getting better I appear to be getting worse, arg. It’s not a debilitating illness or anything, just a run of the mill cold but I’m smack in the middle of the symptoms and it’s annoying. Kleenex are my new best friend. *rolls eyes* I’ve been purposefully not letting it slow me down so Tuesday I went snowshoeing, Wednesday (today) I went to the gym and Thursday I will be dragon boating. A nice busy three days off from work! 🙂

I’m so psyched for Thursday, it will be our first time back on the water this season and it’s gonna rock and suck all at once lol. We won’t be on the water till about 7:15pm so it will be dark and cold and this year head lamps are mandatory. Guess who doesn’t own a head lamp? Oh yeah, that’d be me lol

I wasn’t aware until last night we were going to need them so when I was out today I did a little shopping. Silly thing cost me $45! It is a white LED light but if I am in distress I can push a button and it will flash red, interesting huh? I think I will actually get to return it though, yay! One of my teammates found some for way cheaper, only $11, so she bought a bunch and I can just buy one from her. Which means back to the store I will be going to return the head lamp but hey, a special trip to get money back? I’m cool with that!

Since I was at SportChek I also bought an Olympic Team Canada t-shirt. I know, I know, cheesy or what but, shrug, I’ve been wanting one since the collection came out and now that the Olympics are done they are on sale lol. Cheesy and cheap! 😉 The t-shirt apparently has great wicking capabilities blah blah blah, I’m sure it is great, and I did buy it wanting to wear it when exercising but let’s get real, I didn’t buy it cause it’d suck my sweat away from my body quickly, I bought it cause I like it lol 😛

my new t-shirt, hopefully it will inspire me when I work out

my new t-shirt, hopefully it will inspire me when I work out

Then I bought a toque! Ack! I’d say it was like a shopping demon came over me but I already knew I was needing to find a new toque, shrug. All but the Olympic collection toques were gone, winter gear is being phased out because spring is soon to be upon us, wOOt! So I bought an Olympic gear toque, it’s actually really nice, red and black, I didn’t buy the one that says Canada on it cause clothes that scream your country’s name are so vulgar *shudder* Unless you are a spectator at a sport your clothes should not say your country’s name, or unless it is your independence day and you are celebrating your country, then it’s ok. So yeah, toque, t-shirt and headlamp, quite the productive little shopping trip.

Not that you were wondering, but the reason I so suddenly need another toque is because I looooove my toque that I wear for snowshoeing and that means I do not want to wear it when dragon boating cause it’ll get wet with nasty water and I have no idea how to wash my snowshoeing toque. It is a hand made product, not like it has a tag inside saying how to wash it! I gotta be careful, and making sure that toque doesn’t come in to contact with the water I dragon boat in well, that’s just good ownership lol

I’ve got a couple other pieces of gear I need for dragon boating buuuuut have no money to buy them soooooo just gonna have to do without, shrug.

Hmmm, this quickly became quite the post about shopping, oops! Lemme catch you up on other stuff real quick…

– We got snow! As in lots of snow! Three days worth of non stop snow! Lovely! I was so happy while it was falling, every time I went out in it or looked outside it made me smile. Made most other people grumps but whatev. I so desperately wanted to go snowshoeing in the falling snow but was too sick for that, boo!

while snowshoeing, gorgeous!

while snowshoeing, gorgeous!

– The avalanche warning was high but I like to think that makes things more interesting lol. It was so sunny you could hear the snow melting and a couple times I got pelted with snowballs that were actually chunks of snow falling off trees. 🙂 I ass-tobogganed part way down the mountain which was epic and I sooo want to do again! lol I went off trail on the way down so I could walk through some fresh snow, it’s way more fun, well, I got to a part that was super steep and no way could I climb down it, instead of going back and finding the trail again I sat down, had my knees bent, snowshoes on the ground in front of me (feet still strapped in them) and let myself slide down using the snowshoes to steer me, clear the path so my butt slid smoothly and also act as breaks when needed. Seriously, most fun ever! There was a minor issue of not being able to stop in time at this one section and becoming a tad airborne but meh, I landed on soft snow so who cares? Just made it more fun actually…I’m really hoping I get to do that again lol

– Some not so cool stuff, I keep getting sick! My immune system is really taking a beating this year, I am not impressed at its lackluster performance in the germ kicking business.

– I bought a piece of fish I have noooo idea how to cook, sigh. It is coconut encrusted, sounded interesting and was on sale. Perfect combo! I am going to (most likely) attempt to cook it tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes *worried face* I really hope I don’t food poison myself before practice, that would suck!

– I skipped Stir Fry Sunday this week cause I was too sick to want food Sunday or Monday and by Tuesday it just seemed like I was destined to not have stir fry this week. I will be back to my stir fry madness this coming weekend though, no worries!

– I discovered the deliciousness that is cherries in a cherry sauce put on top of ice cream, trust me, this is something you should try, Mmm!

– The cat got mad at me and purposefully peed on the floor right in front of his litter box to show his anger. You’d think I’d get mad, instead I realized that because I’d been sick when I’d been home the past couple days (this was on Monday) I was unconscious so I made a concentrated effort to stay home and conscious more and since then he’s been much happier. Yes I am aware he has me well trained. 😛

– Lastly, I missed three days in a row of my Squat Circuit Challenge because of being sick. Sunday and Monday I got home from work and basically crashed. Then Tuesday I forgot, which is weird, I think because I was out of the rhythm of it. So starting tomorrow I will pick up where I stopped. I hate that I inadvertently took a bit of a break in the middle but whatcha gonna do, can’t control being sick, shrug.

There we have it, my catch up of the last couple days. Food, exercise and shopping…apparently that is my life this past week lol 😛

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Buh-Bye Sochi Olympics

27 Feb

Sigh, I kinda miss the Olympics. For all that I was getting overly saturated with sports now that the Olympics are over I’m a little sad. *pout*

Sunday after work, I got home and automatically turned the tv on, it was set to the channel I had been using for the Olympics coverage but…there was no Olympics…it was the news. The news?! WTF? Not gonna lie, I was a little confused until I remembered that it was all over. Back to the real world.

I had gotten used to exercising in my living room while watching the Olympics, I had gotten used to checking my Sochi App done by CBC to keep up to date on everything, I had gotten used to caring about sports I normally never care about lol. 😛

I’ll let you in on a little secret about me, I am very un-Canadian because…brace for it…I don’t care about hockey! *ducks down* Don’t throw stuff at me, k? But for the Olympics? All over the hockey! The women’s Canadian team dominated, then the men followed suit! They made us so proud. 😀

I had to be up freakishly early for work Sunday anyways so I saw the men’s final hockey game. Sweden may not have scored but they sure as heck made the Canadian team fight for their win. I felt so bad for Sweden when Canada got that third goal, you could see their shoulders slump down as if they realized their chance at getting gold was almost nil, it was sad, shrug. Not that I believe in letting another team score a point so they feel better, but we could have gone without scoring that third to make the win less crushing…but I s’pose in the midst of a game you aren’t thinking like that. Actually, I know in the midst of a competition you don’t think like that lol my dragon boat team doesn’t care about the feelings of the people we are racing against during a race, it’s only after that we think about how the other teams might feel and are friendly to them again. This isn’t just our team though, all the teams are friendly on land, dragon boaters are a friendly bunch, even if we do yell a lot during a race! lol

There were so many high points to the Olympics but already they all seem like old news. I won’t remember the athletes names by the next Olympics, I’ll spend the first part of the next Winter Olympics trying to remember if I was cheering for this person or that person in 2014. For all that these athletes become so important to their countries during the Olympics, they quickly slip back in to daily life once it’s all over and I never hear a thing about them again…except for that Crosby guy cause he was the face of Dempster’s Bread for a while. I guess in a way it is proof of how they are just like everybody else. They have to work, they have to train, they have to go through their daily routine and how could they do that if they were constantly being in the media?

Regardless of it all being over I will hold on to the happy moments for a while yet, they still make me smile and why stop thinking about things that make you smile? Do you not want to smile? *raised eyebrow*

hockey

 

In case the words are too small on the image here is what it says:

Lovely people those Canadians. Gentle, civilized,  beautiful people.

Until you give them hockey sticks.

Why does the Canadian army even bother with guns, and tanks, and bombs and shit?

They should just give them all hockey sticks

And then say, “There you are boys, the Taliban have the puck.”

teehee, it started floating around the internet the other day and it makes me laugh, even if it does exclude the womens hockey teams.

Oh, and as a side note, the happy moments from the Olympics that I am remembering are not the medals won, though those are awesome, it’s the other stories.

– Patrick Chan apologizing for getting silver not gold. He did us proud, and yet he apologizes, not once but twice! Made me wanna give him a hug and a cookie lol

– The emotional connection I felt to Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir while they performed, it was achingly beautiful.

– Pictures of all three Dufour-Lapointe sisters. Two of the three got medals but they all celebrated together.

– Charles Hamelin laying on top of a side board to reach his girlfriend to give her a kiss after his 1500m speed skate race. He did that at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics too and it’s adorable.

– The goofy pictures the figure skating team took together.

– Cross-country coach Justin Wadsworth running out to the race course and giving the Russian skier a new ski (his was broken) so he could cross the finish line with dignity.

– Gilmore Junio giving up his spot in his race so his teammate could race.

– The Jamaican bobsled team. I’m sorry but I love them no matter where they place! The level of dedication they have, mind blowing.

There are so many other moments, too many to write about here, especially considering they are floating all over the internet and have been plastered all over tvs for the past couple weeks, you probably know all the stories I know and more lol But it’s those moments, the human moments, that I will remember. Except for hockey and curling I won’t remember who won what medals, I won’t remember scores, or race times, what I will remember is seeing people represent their countries, do their best, push themselves beyond physical limits that most of us will never even get close too.

All the athletes are inspiring, and that is what I will remember most. 🙂

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Olympic Stories

12 Feb

Alrighty, so, I have a cat on my head right now…yes, you read that right, On.My.Head. I’m grateful he isn’t using his claws but I am also aware that could change at any moment so I’m doing everything I can to not move my head and mess with his balance…

Anyways, on to other stuff…Olympic stuff!

sochi olympic rings

I’m still completely addicted to watching the Olympics, just can’t get enough! It’s on my tv right now, it is almost always on my tv lol While I’m loving watching the sports, well, most of the sports (some of them I find kinda boring, ssssh! don’t tell any athletes! 😉 lol) my favourite part is seeing the really awesome displays of great sportsmanship, for example…

(1) Canadian coach giving a ski to a Russian skier so he can cross the finish line. This warms my heart for two reasons, the first is because kudos and deep respect to the athlete who falls, breaks his ski, and keeps going! So many people would just stop, and I’m sure he wanted to, but he was determined to cross the finish line. Wow! The other reason I like it is because of the coach, from another team, running to give him a ski so he can finish on two skis. Sure it’s great it was a Canadian coach but it could have been a coach from any team and I would have loved it just as much. Helping a competitor out so they can have a smooth finish to their race, classy, and I love it! Here is a link to a video of it…

Canadian Coach Helps Russian 

(2) Gilmore Junio giving up his chance to race so his teammate Denny Morrison can race instead. Who does that? Who gives up their chance to win an Olympic medal so their teammate can race instead? Gilmore did, and for that I think of him as a hero. Here is a link to a video about it…

Gilmore Offering His Olympic Spot

Things that aren’t necessarily just sportsmanship moments that are making me smile…

Marie-Michele Gagnon dislocated her shoulder when she fell Monday when competing in the slalom portion of the Women’s Super Combined and yet she is going to compete in her other events starting on Saturday (I believe her next event is Saturday,  the time change is kinda messing me up). I don’t think anybody would have questioned her if she chose to not continue but she’s all “it’s good, a little stiff but we’re looking into getting some light weight padding to help protect the shoulder and I should be ok to compete” Tough.As.Nails. Aaaand as expected, here is a link to a video showing the fall…

The Fall, Ouch!

Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, wow. Is any other word needed to describe their long program? For any that don’t know they are figure skaters and they did an amazing job. I loved their music choice and despite some tiny flaws in their program they were, well, the best lol hence the gold 😛 I’m having trouble finding a video of their performance but here’s a pic…

sochi 2014 russian pairs skaters

 

Considering Maxim at one point was living in an ice rink sponsored by the Russian Army and he only got one free meal a day, often surviving off of the pickles his partner was able to smuggle in to him (pickles? weird choice but okaaaay lol), I’d say he earned it. No special, carefully calculated meal plans for him, no coddling, no nothing. Just determination, hard work and an amazing job done. I hope his life is better now than when he was living in the rink and eating hardly anything for a normal person but reeeeally nothing for an athlete.

sochi 2014 russian pairs skaters 2

 

Tell me this isn’t the face of a person who earned his gold medal?

Qing Pang and Jian Tong had an amazing skate of their own, and not gonna lie, knowing it was to be their last time competing had me rooting for them a little extra. How great would it have been for them to have their last time on the ice earn them a medal? Sadly it was not to be, they came in fourth place. Their long program was beautiful to watch, they are so elegant and move so well together. They have a happy-ever-after ending though, they are getting married (to each other!) and are retiring so they can move on to the next phase of their lives.

sochi 2014 chinese pairs skaters

 

This picture isn’t from their Sochi 2014 performance, for some reason I am having a ridiculously hard time finding a picture from either of their programs so here is a shot from a previous performance.

Some random tidbits that make me go wtf?? A snowboarder from Great Britain put off having knee surgery so he could compete, so the whole time he was competing his knee was all wrapped up in a crazy awesome brace in the hopes he wouldn’t make it worse. Dedication! A Canadian snowboarder competed with a fractured rib, and won bronze!

I also saw a quick image of three skiers who crashed (had to have been cross country of some kind) and one skier was on his knees super upset (who wouldn’t be?) and one of the other skiers crawled over to him and hugged him. I can’t find the story to explain the image so I don’t know who they were or the particulars but the image is sticking in my head. Comforting each other when their Olympic dreams are shattered. Only another Olympic athlete could understand what the feeling of losing your chance at a medal is like and seeing one athlete comfort another, right there on the track, brought a sad smile to my face.

There are so many amazing stories during the Olympics, these are just a handful, and I’m sure I’ve most likely bored you all to tears because it’s not like I am writing anything you haven’t already heard about on your local newscast or read online but shrug, these are all stories that have inspired me in some way and make me realize that I just might be capable of so much more then I sometimes think. And if the Olympics don’t inspire you to be nicer, work harder, and be better, well…what will?

Quick sidenote: The Americans just swept the podium in Men’s Freestyle Skiing (slopestyle), that just might be a record, has any country ever done that in any sport? I dunno, but Congrats!

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The Olympics Sucked Me In

7 Feb

I never used to be all that interested in the Olympics. I’d get cranky because my regular scheduled programming would get all messed up, it was a bunch of sports and I don’t do that whole watching-sports-thing, and well, I just didn’t get the appeal.

That changed in 2010, since the Winter Olympics in Vancouver I have been hooked. Hooked! I definitely prefer the winter Olympics over the summer Olympics…for the most part, not gonna lie gymnastics in the summer Olympics is something I try very hard to watch. But yeah, winter Olympics? Sooooo many things I want to watch! It really sucks there is such an extreme time difference but oh well, that’s what recaps are for. Not as exciting as watching when it happens but the games can’t be in my time zone every time lol 😛

When I got home from work today I had intended to work out (using a workout dvd since my gym was already closed) but when I turned on the tv it was by fluke on a channel showing the men’s semi-final snowboarding freestyle and bam! Sucked in! Did I exercise? Hellz no! That would have meant turning off the Olympics so I could what? Do a dvd workout? Screw that, I wanted to see if a Canadian qualified for the finals, for a chance to win a medal, and oh yeah he did! Mark McMorris from Regina is making Canada proud!

Mark McMorris

Mark McMorris

Turns out I missed the figure skating, sadness, since that is also one of the events I really look forward to but whatcha gonna do? Time zones. shrug.

There is a really great app called Sochi 2014 that is awesome! It’s by CBC and you can watch a lot of video recaps, see a listing of results, all kinds of stuff on it. I used it to watch sections of the opening ceremonies cuz um, I sorta slept through those. Come on people! 8am?! That’s ridiculous! *rolls eyes*

Did anybody see those, the opening ceremonies? The fifth snowflake not turning in to the fifth ring, oh dear. lol. Some poor Russian is in maaaaajor trouble!

oops!

oops!

But hey, no biggie in the grand scheme of things right? I mean, that pole thingy didn’t extend properly in the opening ceremony for the Vancouver Olympics, it was embarrassing but there are worse things that can happen *cough*killingstraydogs*cough*

I have a feeling Olympic watching will be impeding a lot of things in the coming weeks, not just working out. Part of me thinks it is dumb, altering what I will be doing so I can be home watching the games buuuuut at the same time these aren’t an everyday thing and I want to see what happens, ok fine, if I am being honest I want to see who wins! lol

 

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