Straw that broke the camel's back

I’ve decided that I have no respect for soccer. After the men’s world cup last year and all of the shenanigans – “injuries”, rolling around on the ground, grabbing the ankle when it’s clear from the replay that the impact hit the upper thigh – I was really put off.

But I decided to give the women’s world cup a chance. And boy was I rewarded with a gem. I caught the end of the USA v. Brazil quarterfinal match. The US was already down in the first period of extra time. Still down into the second period of extra time, Brazil started the time wasting. Walking to take throw ins, delaying on free kicks, and then the worst display of sportsmanship I have EVER seen.

Brazil’s number 13 (Erika) was shown on the ground, clutching at who knows what. Play stops, the medics come out and load her on the stretcher, and as she’s being taken off the field, the replay shows that with NOBODY around her, Erika collapses.

Bring it back to real time – just as the medics get her to the sideline, she unstraps herself and sprints around the outside of the field. Next think you know, in the middle of play, she’s streaking back onto the field. The referee (who I heard had a shocker anyway), futilely waves a yellow card in this girl’s face, but time ticks on.

Fortunately for the US, perhaps justice was served. Two minutes into stoppage time in the final extra period, Abby Wambach scores a header in the corner to tie the game 2-2 and send it to penalty kicks. The US wins on kicks and heads into the semifinals to face France. I don’t think I’ll be watching. I’m sick of such disgraceful displays of unsportsmanlike conduct that has ruined an otherwise fantastic sport.

Mini Reunion!

Sorry this is late in posting – internet has been hard to come by. Wednesday I made a midpoint stop in Harrisburg to visit with my friends JN and JPS!!! So good to see them!!! We had a good ole fashioned country breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then tried to have the waitress take our picture.

Here is the first attempt, after several non-photos.

And finally here’s the last attempt, after several times of instruction!

As an interesting side note, JN is in a masters program out in San Diego in sports management and she told me one of her projects was finding a sponsor for a para-olympian named Lex. Lex is amazing because he competes in track and field, BLIND. That’s right. Lex runs the 100m and 200m sprints (he’s blind!) and does the long jump and triple jump (blind!). How awesome! He has a sighted guide runner, who also used to be a sprinter, and who gives him instructions running right next to him. It just goes to show you that nothing is impossible and people can overcome some seemingly debilitating events and conditions to succeed! What strength!

Who knew you could have fun in MSP?!?!?!

In 2002 I vowed never to return to Minneapolis; well, specifically Blaine, MN. In the last 9 years, I've been back at least 9 times (all for rugby). I've lost count.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Do not make a vow that you have absolutely no control over keeping.

But this time, I'm back in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area for a wedding and to visit my good friend JS. This time I was excited to come back. And this time I'm actually having fun! And there's way more to come!!!

So far I've participated in some fun workouts (I'm still sore from the Thursday Prowler pushing/pulling)...




Shopped at the Mall of America (obviously this is a must)...

(http://twincitieshotspots.blogspot.com/2010/05/mall-of-america-minneapolis-saint-paul.html)

Gone to the beach (yes, MSP has beaches!!!)...


And eaten some delicious food, albeit in the basement because the tornado sirens went off (I guess it wouldn't be the midwest without a severe storm!).

(I had to take the essentials...)

Update on Mim Kagrini!

Well folks, Mim Kagrini the Olympian is back!!! This time to demonstrate that taking performance enhancing drugs is not cool and affects more than just one person's life. It's because of the dopers that the non-dopers' lives are hugely affected!

Here's the story: there's a little organization called the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). And basically they are responsible for ensuring the drug freeness of all athletes in Olympic sports. Rugby is now an Olympic sport, so athletes in the national rugby pool are going to be subject to USADA's rules. This means an invasion of personal privacy - athletes are required to make "whereabouts filings" every three months detailing their exact location at exact times for every single day of their life between the hours of 6am and 11pm. (Whew, at least we get 7 hours to ourselves!)

If we wake up one day and decide we want to do something spontaneous, like go to the beach, we have to update the form (via email, text message, smart phone app, or some other method). If we fail to update the form and USADA shows up to drug test us where we should have been and we aren't, USADA will give us a call and we have 60 minutes to get there or we get a failed test.

If we fail to update the form at the 4 scheduled update times throughout the year, we get a "failure to update" which affects our eligibility and our team's ability to participate or get funding. If we go camping in the wilderness, we are expected to give USADA the coordinates of our camp site (yes, longitude and latitude, those things we learned about in 7th grade), so that they can show up unannounced outside our tent for a pee sample.

Yes, we Mim Kagrini is in a relationship with USADA. A very intrusive relationship. But like my dad says, "you chose it." Did I? Really? At least Mim has good aim...

Post Office Peril!

Listen up everybody - Canada is having postal issues. Apparently they've already reduced their mail service to three days a week, with a possible complete stoppage in the near future. Postal workers are disgruntled, and everybody knows what that means. Although with the reduced mail service, it stands to argue that there is less of a chance someone will go postal.

The reason for the drop off in service is obviously the drop off in actual physical mail. The age of electronics allows checks to be sent through the interwebs. Emails can be sent instead of good old hand written letters (people still use their hands to write things? do kids even know how to hold pencils?). And specialized courier services have replaced the federal postal services.

In my opinion, this is actually a dire situation. Apparently the US Postal service loses hundreds of millions of dollars a year by just operating. Maybe they should stop selling those "Forever Stamps."

www.flagsbay.com

Not much happening

So there's not much happening in my life right now to blog about. My biggest travels are done, I spent some quality time at home and now there's just a few things to take care of before the job starts. Nothing funny ever seems to happen to me anymore - I must be getting old and boring.

BUT, I have a friend who's taken on a challenge this summer - to write a blog post every single day!! So far she's been doing quite well, and if you'd like to check out her writings, visit her blog Structure Fire. It's there. It's happening. It's funny. Although I noticed she missed a few days recently....

Homemade stuff!!!

I've taken my time at home to do some homemade crafting. This includes sewing myself a dress, making my own moisturizer, cooking mint curried chicken, and making Greek yogurt!!! Okay, the yogurt we didn't start exactly from scratch, but basically using just a tablespoon of store bought Greek yogurt and a quart of whole milk, you can make a tub of yogurt!! Yummy!!





Sewing was fun - I had a little bit of help putting in the zipper and hemming it up nicely (and also cleaning up some of the rough edges). But in the end, I had a dress that fit me well and that nobody else in the world has!! Pretty cool!



The moisturizer I'm a little unsure about. I read that all you needed was equal parts olive oil, coconut oil, honey (or beeswax), and water. So I had just that and mixed it together as directed, then left in the fridge to solidify. But it's not quite blended.... I'm skeptical but intrigued.