Happy Random Tuesday

I'm linking up with Random Tuesday Thoughts and Happy Tuesday.

The Olympics are over, and we don't have to worry about turning on the TV and seeing curling anymore. But recent events has made me rethink my opinion on figure skating.  A 15 year old Russian figure skater tested positive for a banned substance (technically a heart medicine that is banned because it increases endurance).  She is surrounded by coaches, nutritionists, and team doctors, and we all know they are the ones who gave her the drug.  They probably told her it was a vitamin.

Anyway, I read further about what life is like training at the ice rink in Moscow with her coach.  Twelve hours on the ice every single day, food restrictions, water restrictions, efforts to slow or halt puberty, and pushing athletes to the brink of injury.  I don't want to support that lifestyle.  But I'm not naïve enough to think that anything will change just because I don't watch it.  It's a mental conundrum.

I'm happy we are having a visit from our granddaughter.  Her 2nd birthday is Friday. So sweet!  We are having a small family get-together, but she and her parents and the dogs are going to stay a while since they are having work done on their home while they are out of town. 

We finally broke down and purchased a crib.  She used to sleep on a pallet, but that wasn't working out, so we bought a crib with the hope that we will eventually have other grandchildren who come to stay. 

On to the funnies! This first one makes me laugh!

Irony:

An all new meaning for auto-correct.

This cracks me up!  I can see me doing this, but I won't.

And last, but not least...

Have a great week!

Happy, Random, Olympic Tuesday!

 

Have you been watching much of the Olympic Games?  I have only been interested in the figure skating so far.  Maybe because I can't do it!  Skates kill my ankles! Two days ago I was watching the pairs do their free skate, and it made me wonder how the lifts and throws were invented.

I picture someone saying, "Hey!  Let me throw you in the air and see if you can land on one leg with a skate that has a half inch width blade on the freezing ice!  Great idea, no?  Let's go a little further and see if I can hold you in the air with one arm while I skate on one leg!"  Whose bright idea was this?

And while I was wondering about that, a couple actually fell on a lift right before the end of their program.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Premonition.  

 Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Despite the fall, Mishina and Galliamov (from Russia) still took first place in this part of the team competition. Their choreography was amazing as well as their technique, ummm, if you forget the fall I guess.  You can watch the routine in its entirety on YouTube.

None of the female individual skaters I watched the other day had a flawless routine.  It made me wonder if the ice was extra slippery that day.  Regardless, if you haven't seen 15 year old Kamila Valieva (from Russia) land a quad, TWICE in one routine, the first woman to do so at the Olympics, you're missing out! It's also on YouTube.

And there are much more Olympics to come!

This looks like a pretty bad invention!

Another bad invention, and just plain weird!

And another strange invention!

TRUTH!

Remember when this happened? It's been 23 years!

Sorry... this wasn't funny!  But the meme is!

For real!

Yup!

And last, but not least...

Link up with Stacy Uncorked for Random Tuesday Thoughts or Sandee at Comedy Plus for Happy Tuesday.

Have a great week!

Olympics!

My son and I have been enjoying watching the Olympics this week.  He even watches gymnastics with me.  My husband has even watched some with me.  But as we watch, we come up with so many questions!  I wonder if you had any of these same questions.

1.  Has a country ever swept an event (received gold, silver, and bronze on the same event at the same time)?  Well, yes.  Yes, they have.  There's quite a list.

2.  On the rings, what is meant by planking?  It has a different meaning if you simply look up planking or look it up in the urban dictionary.

Image Credit Planking

3.  How is it determined who will swim in each lane?  I had no idea.  I never did any competitive swimming.

4.  How do Olympians make money?  Do athletes get paid for winning?  I had no idea.

5.  How are diving events scored?

6.  What is the current medal count?

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7.  Are there shooting events?  (This was one of the first things my son wanted to know.)

8.  When do the track and field events start?  Soon!

9.  How much do those cute gymnastics leotards cost?  OMGosh!

Getty Images

10. Who is the oldest American competing this year?  Way to go!  Bronze!

11. Who is the oldest Olympic competitor ever?  6 Medals!

12. Why did the water in the diving pool turn green?

Getty Images

13. What do the Olympic rings represent?

These are just a sample of the questions we had.  Watching the Olympics is so much fun!
Link up at Thursday Thirteen.

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Random Tuesday

I'm linking up with Stacy for some randomness.

My summer is coming to a close.  I have less than one week before I report back to work to get ready for the school year.  I have become so accustomed to my afternoon naps that transitioning back into a work schedule is going to be so difficult.

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 And the first day of classes is August 22nd.  The 21st will be a sleepless night.  Who can sleep before the first day of school?  Even teachers have this problem.  Since I'm a ready and writing teacher, I'd love to hear your favorite young adult book if you can leave the author and title in the comments.


I'm loving the Olympics!  I've been watching swimming, diving, volleyball, and gymnastics.  Gymnastics is my favorite!  There are some other great events coming up, too!  What's your favorite?

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Did you hear about the French  gymnast who snapped his leg when he landed his vault?  It's heart-breaking!  Have you seen the video?  It gave me the heebeejeebees!  YouTube removed the video as it was a violation of copyright from the Olympic committee, but a few different news sites have posted their own videos.  You may not want to watch, though!  It's gruesome.  And as if that weren't bad enough, the staffers carrying his stretcher to the waiting ambulance dropped him and he fell to the floor.

Getty Images

The gymnast, Samir Ait Said, age 26, broke both his tibia and fibia.  Four years ago, just two months before the London Olympics, he fractured his right leg in three places.  Here is an article about the injury - no disturbing photos or videos.  Now if you're not squeamish and would like a photo or video, you can try this link. Wishing him a complete recovery!

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Oh, and that poor 10 year old boy who lost his life on the water coaster!  Also heartbreaking.  I can't imagine, first, how the family is handling it, and second, how in the world something like that could happen.  We have two Schlitterbahn parks here in Texas including the original which I have been to many times, but I've thankfully not seen anyone get hurt, much less killed.  I doubt I would have ridden Verruckt.  It's taller than the Statue of Liberty and Niagara Falls!

Let's hope there are no horrible stories this coming week.  I'd love it if you hopped over to this young blogger's page to read about living a minimalist life.  Have a great week!

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A Little Random

I'm linking up with Stacy today.

I know I'm not the only one who is sick of all the debate, divisiveness, and back-and-forth political bickering we've got going on in the US right now.  I think maybe we could solve it like our parents did long ago when we fought with our brothers and sisters.  If you shared a room with a sibling, and you couldn't get along, your parents would just put a line down the middle of the room, and you both had to stay on your own side.  You could do whatever you wanted as long as you stayed on your side of the room and didn't argue.

"Their solution was to lay a jump rope on the floor to divide their bedroom in half." (This Room is Mine, by Betty Ren Wright.)

 How about we just divide the country in half and let each of the two sides take half the country and do things their way?  Each side could make their own rules.  Perhaps it could solve it.  Nah, just kidding... sort of.

I finally watched the women's gymnastics Olympic trials from July 8 and 10.  It's by far my favorite Olympic event, and I can't wait for competition to start August 5.  I think the chosen team is going to be phenomenal!


Aly Raisman's first tumbling pass earned her gold last time and will hopefully do the same this year.

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I've also been watching Scandal and loving it, until the fifth season.  Now it just seems like a mirror of real life.  Planned Parenthood as the focus of a bill, a President's wife running for President, gun violence issues, entitlement, free college, gay marriage, and education bills.  I liked the first four seasons so much because it was an escape!  Now it's just... preachy, regardless of your position on any issue.

Before I go, I want to share a video I saw on Facebook that made me smile.  There was an abandoned puppy, soooo cute, that was nursed to health by a momma cat.  Watch!  Betcha smile!



And that's a wrap!

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Aloha Friday

Welcome to this week’s edition of Aloha Friday. In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that they take it easy and look forward to the weekend. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer in a comment. If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and leave your Aloha Friday post link at An Island Life.

My questions:

What is your favorite Olympic sport (either season)?

If you have a favorite athlete, who is it?

My answers:  Women's gymnastics has always been my favorite Olympic sport.  This year, I was rooting for Jordyn Wieber, and I was disappointed she wasn't allowed to compete in the all-around.  But, did you see how much of a team player she is?  And that smile!  I wish all the girls would smile during or at the end of their routines.    It's so much more pleasant to watch.  Here's Jordyn's official site.

Image Credit.                               Thanks for stopping by! Have a good weekend!

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Thursday Thirteen

I'm linking up with Thursday Thirteen today.  Come and play along!
I am enjoying watching the Olympics this summer. Here are some of my Olympic memories.

1. When I was growing up, the winter and summer Olympics were held in the same year every four years. It wasn't until 1994 that they became every two years, first Winter in 1994 then Summer in 1996 and so on. I think I preferred them being held all in the same year.

2. I remember when Dorothy Hamill, with her cute pageboy haircut, won the gold in ladies single figure skating at the 1976 Olympics.

3. Another figure skater I remember well is Katarina Witt from East Germany who won gold both in 1984 and 1988.

4. Who could forget Kristi Yamaguchi wining the gold medal in figure skating in 1992?

5. The bronze medalist in 1992 came back to win silver in 1994, Nancy Kerrigan. That was amazing in and of itself due to Tonya Harding’s attack on her at the US competition that year. Tonya was noticeably absent from the Olympics that year. 

6. I remember our gold medalists in the Men’s single figure skating from both 1984 and 1988, Scott Hamilton and Brian Boitono.

7. Who can forget Michael Phelps' first gold medal for swimming in 2004?  He set a world record in the 400 meter.

8. My very first memory of the summer Olympics is watching Olga Korbut win gold medals on balance beam and floor exercise in 1972. I was very young at the time (6 or 7), but I was quite interested.

9. Another of my earliest Olympic memories is when Nadia Comaneci from Romania scored a perfect 10 on balance beam at the summer Olympics. They later changed the scoring so a ten is not perfect anymore.

10. Nadia’s coach Belya Korolyi moved to the United States in 1981. He coached Mary Lou Retton to an all-around individual gold medal for gymnastics in 1984. She was so petite and cute.

11. I loved it when our US girls took home the gold in the team competition in 1996 in Atlanta. That was a great group of girls: Shannon, Dominique D., Kerri, Amy, Amanda, Jayci, and Dominique M. They rocked Atlanta!
12. Sadly, I remember the bombing that took place in Atlanta in 1996. It killed one woman and injured 111 others. One of the security guards who found the bomb (Richard Jewell, who was quite a hero, in fact) was falsely accused of setting the bomb.

13. It was quite exciting, though not a first, when the US men’s basketball dream team won the gold at the 1992 Olympics. This was probably the first year I really paid any attention to a sport other than figure skating swimming, or gymnastics. I loved these guys! My favorite player was Clyde Drexler, but I also have a lot of respect for Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Scottie Pippen, and Larry Bird.

I love the Olympics!

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