22nd August 2008
I love the Olympics, but here’s the question: Are we sore losers?
This is not going to be my best post of all time - and certainly not by best writing - but I’ve been thinking about this a bit:
I’ve been watching the Olympics like an addict for the last two weeks, and I have enjoyed most of what I have seen (even the bits of rhythmic gymnastics I caught this morning…), but there have definately been some moments when I have questioned the scores awarded by the judges. And I’m not the only one to do so: American and other commentators have wondered about some of the scores arwarded in gymnastics, diving (on a lesser level), and boxing.
We all watched the gymnastics team event and saw the American women get beat by the Chinese, who truly were the better team that night (I’m not saying anything right now about their age falsification problem…). But then in the event finals, we got to see some serious scoring bias. When Alicia Sacramone was knocked out of the bronze medal spot for the vault by the Chinese gymnast who fell on her second landing, it was obvious that either the scoring system was flawed, or those giving the scores were biased. And again, on the uneven bars, when Nastia Liukin ended up tying for first place but being awarded the silver medal, we saw either a flaw in the system or a bias from the judges - or incompetence (as many folks have pointed out that most of the judges for that event final were from a country that had never won a medal in that particular event).
There are complaints about the judging in boxing everytime there is a large amateur tournament, however, this time around there appear to be some seriously mis-scored matches involving some Americans. You can watch a video on nbcolympics.com where commentators go through the scoring of the first round of the match where Raynell Williams lost to a French fighter. It becomes apparent that there were a number of points that Williams should have been awarded but was not. There has also been the a high rate of success for the Chinese in a sport where they have not historically been very strong - four Chinese boxers are guaranteed a medal, where the only other Olympic boxing medal came for the Chinese in 2004 (according to nbcolympics.com, though I found a site with the olympic boxing history where I counted up 4 medals, 3 between 1908 and 1956, and the one in 2004 - apparently Mao didn’t allow Chinese athletes to compete in boxing…).
Anyway, I don’t want to drag the judging debate out, but I do wonder whether we’re just sore losers and making excuses, or if there is some validity to questions about judging.
To see a blogger who has really put up some funny and fun blogs about the Olympics, check out http://dogsandjeans.blogspot.com/
To read a rather humourous article (though a little bit racy) about the ummm… sexual atmosphere… of the athlete village, check out http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4582421.ece
When it’s all over, I’ll be 1) a little sad; but 2) back on a normal sleeping schedule which is good because I start school next week.
Cheers!
5th August 2008
oh summer…
So, out here in Colorado, we’ve had some tremendous heat over the past couple weeks. Denver broke a hundred and something year old record for consecutive days over 90 degrees, with a number of days soaring over 100. I missed some of those days on a trip that I took to see some friends and family, and specifically to attend the wedding of Tyler and Jenny Zwagerman. But it was still hot hot hot when I got back.
I’ve been pretty lazy about writing on here (and if you have left me any comments, someday soon I will get back to you…), and there were have been many noteworthy happenings recently. Among those that I felt could have been been worthy of their own blog entries:
I drank 63 oz of beer in South Bend, Indiana - home of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and now of my sister Carrie and her husband Loren. The special was for 32 oz mugs, but I got mine in a giant clear plastic cup - a 32 oz plastic cup. I really wish I had had my camera with me (though by the end of the second cup my stomach was quite full - hence 63 instead of 64 oz…).
Loren and I lit candles in the grotto at Notre Dame, besides perusing many interesting areas of campus, including the basilica museum, which houses a collection of golden and jeweled chalices that the priest in charge informed us were insured for either $16 or $18 million… and I asked him if they ever take them out for dinner parties (they don’t, but wouldn’t you? a shame to just let them sit there).
I rode my bike in South Bend on Thursday morning, in Chicago on the Lakefront trail on Friday morning, and in Cedar Grove, Wisconsin on Saturday morning as most of the bridal party participated in either a 10k run or 2 mile fun run/walk before the wedding (I didn’t race, just rode around video-taping people.
I partied with my college friends and Loren in Chicago on Thursday evening (a bit of a bach party…), dancing for many hours at a bar where the only person dancing when we walked in was a short middle aged guy with a big gut - who proceeded to continue dancing for the next 3 hours. Amazing.
Played some music at Tyler and Jenny’s wedding, which was on the beach of Lake Michigan, just north of Wisconsin at a lake house that belongs to her parents. Like being on the set of a movie.
I put corn into bags at a roadside corn stand as I visited my high school coach/friend Niels and his wife and children. Niels did $1600 in produce sales on the day I showed up (I was only there for the last hour and a half or so, but it was still an interesting experience); after dinner we then drove out to the family farm where he loads up produce for the next day, and helped him chuck a thousand pounds of corn into the truck.
I rode my hancycle 10 miles in 100 degree heat at noon one day last week. I didn’t pass out, but if I had gone much longer I would have.
Nick and I played music at a sweet hippie music festival where they called us because another band had canceled; and then the next night we played music at Camp Isaiah, a Christian running camp. Both were super fun for the most part.
Ok, I think that’s it for now. Each of those could be more significant stories for sure, but you’ll have to wait to ask about them in person next time you see me!
9th July 2008
The Boyd Lake Summer Concert Series (this Saturday!)
I’m a little late in putting this up here, but we’re playing at the Boyd Lake Summer Concert Series this Saturday, July 12, from approximately 1pm to 2:30 or so. It’s going to be a ton of fun, and it’s the first time Sauni’s Big Jump has all been together since April, I think. Nick, his g/f Danielle, Mike and I all went out to their show last weekend (it was Dave Beegle and the Jurrasicastors - awesome!) and they had a great sound system and a cool stage and there were a bunch of people just hanging out, enjoying Colorado summer with some of Colorado’s best music. You should do the same this weekend!
The show is at the swim beach plaza/pavillion, and to get in, you’ll either have to pay the parks entrance fee ($7) or ride your bike in on the Loveland bike path. Another band, the Holden Young Trio, will play after we do.
For more info, check out http://parks.state.co.us/Parks/BoydLake/BoydLakeEvents.htm
30th June 2008
time off from the blog and cleaning out the comments
i haven’t written for a while, and part of what was keeping me away was the accumulation of spam comments. even with certain filters on my comments, many still get through. in fact, since i last posted, there were some 650 spam comments - and 1 legitimate comment - in my moderation ques. it just took me literally 25 minutes to mark each of those comments for deletion. what a lame way to stay up past my bedtime.
which is to say, i’m working quite a bit these days and so i wake up before six to leave my house around seven to get to longmont by seven forty or so. yeah, i’m going to sleep now - but now that i’ve cleaned out those ques, i’ll write again this week with actual news.
cheers!
3 comments
20th May 2008
I have the week off! (and I’m playing music with Julie Butler in Fort Collins on Friday)
First off, the parentheses: Julie and I are playing at the grand re-opening of Catalyst Coffee in Fort Collins on Friday evening. It is a wine-tasting event that will be from 8:30-10:30pm. Catalyst is NW of the intersection at Horsetooth and Shields, I believe. Perhaps I’ll see you there?
Now the substance: I have no school and the next project for work doesn’t start until next week, so this week I have time to do all the things that I’ve been needing to do but haven’t had time for. Like, I’m hoping to get the oil in my car changed. I’ve been wanting to clean my room really well for a couple weeks not. I’m going to cut off a pair of pants and hem them into shorts. I made bank deposits yesterday. I might get a haircut (I might even pay for one…). I’m trying to catch up on sleep - I didn’t sleep much in the last couple weeks. I’m playing music with friends. I might read something for fun, not for school. That would be nice. Okay, that’s pretty much all I’ve got right now, except for one complaint:
I’m listening to songs that I want to learn how to play by watching/listening the videos on youtube right now, and I’m trying to listen to “Big Yellow Taxi” (they paved paradise and put up a parking lot), and all of the videos of the versions by Joni Mitchell (who wrote it) and the Counting Crows (who did a couple decent covers of it) are loading extremely low while the version by Amy Grant loads lightning quick. Maybe because noone out there would watch it on purpose, but I don’t know, maybe that’s mean to say. Sorry, Amy.
30th April 2008
no show in boulder tonight… and some press coverage?
hey, just in case you for some reason thought that we might have a show in boulder tonight (because at one point we did have one scheduled), we no longer are playing it. i meant to let everyone know this before, but am lazy. or busy.
probably both.
and the loveland reporter-herald ran a little human interest story on me/sauni’s big jump the other day - yesterday? - tuesday, whenever that was. there was a nice picture of kristen and i practicing (she says, ‘i don’t even really play guitar in this band…’ and laughs, and i tell her, ‘it’s ok, noone else knows that’). you can check it out at the reporter-herald’s site…
and finally, i’m working at the test grading place in the evenings right now, from 5:30-10:30ish (i actually get off around 10:45) and so between trying to get enough sleep, go to some of my classes, get some of my schoolwork done, and everything else there is to do to make life happen (not to mention, not wanting to do any of the schoolwork or grading on account of having perfect spring weather), i’ve been somewhat busy, so if I owe you a phone call or something like that, these are the reasons.
cheers! i’m here in denver and i’m going to study for half an hour, sleep for 5 hours, go to classes/finish assignments from 8am-3pm, and then drive to longmont, work from 5:15-10:45, go home to loveland, try to sleep, get up and do schoolwork, go to work, pass out, etc. etc. and on and on…
4 comments
26th April 2008
true confessions of a paraplegic seminary student…
i just got back from watching nick and justin (who play in sauni’s big jump with me) play at a bar in boulder with another band (called big in japan), and while i was there a funny little thing happened, that i thought i might write down as an internet anecdote because i haven’t written anything really interesting in a while.
anyway, there were a couple girls who knew one of the other band members who started talking to me, and so i tried to carry a pleasant conversation. one of the girls in particular i was talking to - you might even say that i was flirting with her just a little - and she was… how do we say this?… a *little* on the enebriated side.
i asked her what she was studying in boulder, and she in turn asked if i was a cu (university of colorado) student. i told her that i took classes at a school in denver, and she asked what school. i replied that the school was called denver seminary… and she got a look on her face that said she was digesting the meaning of that word, ’seminary,’ and figuring out what that meant. all of a sudden she was less talkative, and then a minute later i saw and overheard her talking with her friend (trying to whisper with a loud band playing is hard enough - doing it when you’re drunk must be even harder…).
‘he’s in seminary,’ she said.
‘what’s that mean?’ the friend asked.
‘he’s going to be a priest,’ she ‘whispered’ back.
i couldn’t help but laugh to myself concerning their little misconception, but decided to let them think what they wanted to about me and my reasons for being in seminary - and priesthood or no, i don’t think i was what they were looking for, anway.
4 comments
19th April 2008
today is my birthday…
I’m 23. Getting old. You may or may not think 23 is old, but I’m starting to feel it, that’s for sure.
Welp, the weather is nice today in Colorado, and I’m going to enjoy it a little bit.
4 comments
10th April 2008
Sauni’s Big Jump at Crabtree Brewery this Saturday
Hey y’all, I’m sitting here doing research for my thesis proposal (due next Tuesday), and realized that I ought to at least post a bit more info about our show this Saturday. After Saturday we aren’t playing again until May 1st, and I’m not sure yet what that show (in Boulder at the RockNSoul Cafe) will look like, whether it will be just a couple of us playing or what. Other than that, I’m not sure whent our next show is - we might take a little break from playing to reload and refresh.
So, this Saturday at the Brewery’s Springfest event we’ll probably end up playing somewhere around 6 or 6:30 until 8 or 8:30. The party starts at 4pm with the Kingpins Blues Band, then we’ll play, and then after us Ben Pu and Crew will play. The event is 21+ and there is a $5 cover charge that gets you free pool and a free limited edition pint glass from Crabtree Brewery. It should be an all around good time, so I hope to see you out there!
Crabtree Brewery is at 625 3rd St. #D, Greeley, CO 80631 and you can find more info about Springfest at their website. Hope to see you soon!
-daryl
2nd April 2008
congrats to the contest winners…
Matt and Kacey! They got themselves tickets to see Dave Beegle with Sauni’s Big Jump this weekend in Boulder. Look for more contests to win fabulous glittering prizes like poorly built katamarans (anyone know the reference for that one?) or Sauni’s Big Jump merchandise…
And remember, you can still see us play in Boulder this weekend, it’s just going to set you back a few bones because it’s for charity and it features one of the best musicians in Colorado in Dave Beegle (besides Nick, Jon, and Elle, or course!) - and the ticket prices are still pretty reasonable. Go to mentalmusic.org for more info.
-daryl