Euro Cup 2008 Final Presentation

The moment at 8:25 is EPIC. I was so pleased that these guys managed to finally pull off a big victory in a major tournament for me. I've been cheering them on since the Olympics in 2004, and I've been disappointed many times by these guys. It was a great way to start the summer, watching this tournament. And of course it was great to have a team like this to cheer on. I'm already looking ahead to World Cup 2010 Qualifiers. Maybe I'll get to see one while I'm in Europe? I'll have to look into it, but that would be EPIC.

But seriously, it was great to watch Casillas, Senna, Marchena, Xavi, Sergio Ramos, Torres, David Villa, and the whole team rock this tournament.

VIVA ESPANA-Euro 2008

Amazing.

And no I did not decide to support Spain when the quarterfinals started. I have been supporting them solidly since the Olympics in 2004.

And as a fan of the team, MAD PROPS. It was epic, and I can't wait to watch them in the Olympics!

Mingling with the Richies

Rhythm and Booms is a Madison tradition. Its this huge fireworks show that is timed to a musical track so that the booms of the fireworks fit the beats and high points of songs. Its actually pretty epic, and just about everyone in Dane County tries to see it. Thing is, going to the park its at is a total bitch. Luckily you can see the show from just about anywhere on Lake Mendota, a lake that I just happen to live very very close to (four houses up the hill from actually). Unfortunately our access point is overgrown, so its hard to see.

Never fear.

Some friends and I went to Bishop's Bay instead. Its sort of this really really nice country club about a mile west of my house. Like probably the nicest in Madison. None of my friends are members or anything, so we just sort of crashed. And then took over their dock, and had the second best view of the fireworks in the greater Madison area.

The best part of it is that we got to hang out with the rich people. I'm talking about the guys in fancy polo shirts who drove their golf cart over from their mansion because they are too rich to walk. The ladies who have knocked out like three kids that are all the biggest terrors in the world, and who go out shopping or whatever instead of disciplining them. It was hilarious.

I love hanging out with the richies because I am so obviously out of place. I like to sit and laugh at how ridiculous they are in their fancy folding chairs with the cup holders while I sit on the end of the dock with my friends, and a far better view.

Oh, and I also made sure to shout "I LOVE AMERICA" at the end. Because seriously, watching fireworks timed to "America the Beautiful" makes me feel proud of my country. And its an Olympic year and we all get a little more pride for our nation on Olympic years.

VIVA AMERICA!

Malta?

Yes, after finding really cheap airfare from Venice to Malta, it has been added to the list of places I want to go...

I am so not going to be able to go all of these places.

Maiden Voyage

I took my XMAS road bike out for her Maiden Voyage today. She rides like a charm. I was a little nervous on the downhills and the sharp turns because I'm not used to handling drop bars, but shit, it was such a smooth ride. I don't even have my toe clips on yet and I'm already sailing up the hills like a skinny Spaniard. I can't imagine what its going to be like when I can pull up too. I'm looking forward to getting the Contessa out on some real roads (and not just around the Northlake subdivision). It should be a damn good summer for that.

Random Musings: June Edition

-The first week of camp went well. No one broke anything (well except the water balloon slingshot), no fights broke out, and I guess everyone had fun. It's unfortunate that soccer week is already over because it's such an easy week on my side, and the kids like it too. Next is golf, which could either be really awful or a good time. Probably the first choice though.

-On my to do list on my iGoogle it says "Go to Costa Rica." It has been like that since I did an iGoogle in November. I guess I really want to go to Costa Rica?

-I'm going to the Enderlin's tonight to watch Camp Rock. Catherine isn't going to be there, so I'm going to hang out with her high schooler sister Monica. Caroline (their mom) will probably be really confused as to why I'm hanging out at there place when Catherine is out of town, but I don't care. I've known Monica since she was like 3 or 4.

-I hate the libo. They asked my Mom if I wanted hours this summer, and then proceeded to NOT GIVE ME ANY. WTF is up with that, assholes.

-I'm shitting my pants nervous of doing the fishing unit at camp. I signed up for it because I thought it would be funny, but now I'm not so sure it was a good idea. We were at Picnic Point the other day and the fish were like two feet long and everywhere... definitely not fishing there.

-I love summer, fuck going back to school.

Two Down

Done with the first two days of camp. No serious incidents as of yet...

Although a kid did find a used pregnancy test outside today. And if you were wondering, yes, it was positive. I nearly shat myself when he brought it to me, in his hands. What a pregnancy test was doing on the playground, I will never know. Because seriously, is that the best place to do it? Probably not.

But it was super funny.

Tomorrow we are going on an all day field trip. It should be a blast, well at least I get free ice cream.

Home For The Summer

I am officially home for the summer, moved out from Max P, and not going back to Chicago till probably September.

I like being home. I don't have to cook, and do most cleaning. I don't have to study. I just sit around and watch sports on the TV and play the computer.

I guess it's sort of like being a ten year old.

Also, today was Camp Set-Up. The highlight of the day was scaring the shit out of a random woman walking around outside the school we are using. Matt and I were "exploring" with flashlights, well playing flashlight tag, and we flashed it out at her. Then we realized that it was probably really sketchy that random kids were flashing her with flashlights from inside a school during the summer. We secretly hoped she'd call the cops.

My life is really simple in summer. I don't have things to blog about. I guess I'll share camp stories as they come... but otherwise... there won't be much to share.

Last 30 Minutes as a Second Year

Here is a list of all of the ridiculous things that have happened in the last 30 min:

1. Monkey Evolution Final, after which I ceremoniously pitched ALL of my notes into the nearest trash can with much gusto.

2. Banana/Pudding thing in Bartlett.. fresh

3. DON'T STOP BELIEVING playing in Bartlett as I walked in. I laughed my ass off, they thought I was crazy

4. Carmel Javalanche

And scene.

Take Back The Tour.

Not only does this video give me the most ridiculous goosebumps of my life, it is EXACTLY how I feel.

There will be a long ranty post about this later, mostly because I'm not quite on my top game right now for it to be any good.

But seriously, the Tour has disappointed me for the last two years (ok, not so much last year because I HATED Rasmussen and Vino and was glad to see their asses kicked out of the race and Contador winning it, but still, big drama equals bad image). I'm ready to go back to the way it was three years ago. The glory days of Lance Armstrong. Back then the Tour was so alive and amazing, and now it's become a sort of circus.

I am MORE THAN READY to take back the Tour. It's for us, the fans, this year. It's going to be the most exciting Tour EVER, no doping, no drama, just pure sport.

Maybe I am a masochist for loving this sport. But I am believer too. And I believe in it.

Take Back the Tour. 2008.

Last Night Living In Max...

...it's sort of surreal.

Not even kidding. It might be because its almost 4:30 AM and I'm wide awake still.

But still, very odd sensations running through me. Relief, nostalgia, sadness, excitement, pure joy. I hate living here, but it's been quite the experience.

I Just Realized I'm Leaving

Ok, so I know I've got this amazing adventure lined up... 6 months living in Europe, it's going to be the time of my life... but now I'm getting a little (ok, a lot) nostalgic about leaving the good ole HP. I think this feeling washed over me as I was waking away from Noodles on 57th Street after a really nice dinner with my bestie Ryan I realized that I wasn't going to see him until next May, at the earliest. That is like forever from now. I got sort of sad at that point and realized that although I'm incredibly excited to be jetting off to Europe, I'm going to be gone from HP for a very long time. This was only amplified when I tore the pictures of Toni Morrison off of the wall, and threw them in the trash. For some reason that was rather upsetting to me.

I guess you don't realize what you've had until its gone.

Wow, now that's nostalgia if I've ever seen it.

If We Don't Kill A Camper This Summer...

o...I will likely be shocked.

First camp orientation was on Saturday, and the turnout was... well, it wasn't looking too good. Our full staff was there (surprisingly), but our full staff is actually NOT a full staff. Meaning, we still have one TBD Specialist, a spot I hope they fill (soon!) because the rest of us specialists are all returning staffers from last year.

Not to say I don't love our specialists (for the most part... if you know what I mean), but having someone new is half the fun. Our counselors seem pretty cool. They are all blond, which was the first thing I noticed when I met them all, but I think they will be cool. I'm not expecting to need a counselor much this summer (although Denise will probably make me have one at all times because I'll have the naughty groups), but when they are with me I'm sure it will be real chill.

The Supervising lineup was a bit surprising to me. Jennifer (!) is the Director and Denise is the Assistant Director. I don't know how this happened, but I'm actually looking forward to it. I could already tell that things were going to be a bit more relaxed this summer just by seeing Jennifer "in charge" on Saturday.

Other notable events at orientation:
-The grand reunion of the 2007 PM Counselor Team (aka Matt and I), we will proudly wear the lime green colors of Camp SHITSHOW this summer (or so I've begun to call it).
-The mentioning of a certain five year old (with a pacemaker) that will be joining our campers this summer... god I hope we don't kill this kid.
-The "celebration" exercise that Jason made us do, that resulted in us looking like idiots. All of us. Including Jason. Next weekend I refuse to celebrate.
-Finding out that the "Go Fore Golf" unit means REAL golf... not mini-golf as I previously thought.

Next weekend is the safety stuff, and the "sexual harassment" talk. I'm counting the days...

My Brother Has A Diploma

I've been home for the past few days for various reasons (moving, camp stuff...) one of which is my brothers graduation.

I honestly CAN NOT believe that he made it to graduation. Seriously, when I wrote that post in January about my parents probably divorcing and my brother running away... I thought it was over. But here we are six months later, and we are still (surprisingly) one family, and my brother is still around finishing school.

Who would have thought that?

Anyways, Congrats to Nick, and the rest of the Class of 2008.

2016 Olympics

As someone who would love to work for the IOC or the US Olympic Committee, the 2016 bidding process has really interested me. Part of this might be because one of the cities that has made the short list is Chicago, and the site proposed for the Olympic Stadium is less than a mile from where I live. So I guess it affects me a lot. And the community that I've sort of become a part of.

Anyways, they announced the short list for the bid today. Chicago is up against Madrid, Rio, and Tokyo. It's kind of a who's who of exciting cities. And there is really no front runner, which makes the bidding process more exciting.

So here are my opinions on each of the host cities and their chances:

1. Madrid

I'm not really sure that the IOC is going to want another European country for 2016. I mean the 2012 Olympics are going to be in London, which is not thaaat far away from Madrid. Honestly I think they were just being nice letting Madrid on to the short list. They were on the shortlist for 2012 too, and I'm pretty sure their proposals were the same as the last round.

2. Tokyo

Ditto on the repetition of continents thing. Beijing 2008 and Tokyo 2016 might be a little too close to one another for the IOC to throw their support to Tokyo. And I'm not sure Tokyo has room for the Olympics. And Nagano in 1998 was pretty lame, so the IOC might want to just forget about Tokyo for a little bit.

3. Rio de Janiero

I think Rio has a better chance than any for getting some real support from the IOC. South America proper has never hosted an Olympics, so it would be a cool FIRST TIME! kind of thing. And Rio could put on a hell of an opening/closing ceremony. I've read that the IOC is kind of against Brazil though because the World Cup is supposed to be there in 2014... um yeah, that might be a bit of an overload.

4. Chicago

So then there is Chicago. A nice American city which can be relied on to put on a good show. I feel like America is more of a fall back than anything for these sorts of things. The IOC knows we can do it, but they like to at least try and support other bids. Chicago might be bypassed because of the London/Chicago similarity, but at this point I think Chicago has more of a chance than any.

Honestly though, this is a tough crowd. We'll see what happens in the next year, but I could really see it going to any of these at this point. I know where I want it to go (*Rio*Chicago*) so I guess I can only hope at this point.

Oh, and if Chicago gets it, I might be able to finagle a really cool job out of this. Like a DREAM JOB sort of thing. But only if...

M Sneed

Good luck in China Meredyth.

And I apologize for anything ridiculous I said last night (aka "raise the roof for nudity" and "I'll send you a Russian). I think I was half awake.

But seriously, I hope Meredyth has fun in China, these abroad adventures are so exciting, and she is a lucky bitch for getting to go now as opposed to in September.

To Reiterate

I love this man. And the fact that he will soon be our president.

Things Get Worse Before They Get Better

The packing situation in 409B is looking a bit, well worse for wear. I still have a little more than 48 hours to get all of this stuff together, and it should happen... but I've also got to throw together an outline for a research paper, which probably won't happen. My priorities should be flipped around, but I don't really care at this point. I can smell summer... ok, well maybe not, but it does smell like rain outside (because it's raining).

Here are some pictures of the current situation in 409B:




**NOTE: Yes, that is my roommate, asleep in her bed, with my mattress up in her business.

Sticking it to the Man

This might be my single most favorite example of sticking it to the man. It might not be the best example, or the most "sticking," but it is my favorite. Probably because of my love for the sport of cycling, and my frustration with its current affairs.

Exhibit A: Alberto Contador in the pink jersey, winning the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy, second biggest race on calender after the Tour de France, which oddly enough, Contador won last year).


Exhibit B: Contador lifting the trophy in the air. It should be mentioned, I guess, that Contador's Team Astana was not invited to the race initially. They were ignored after seroius doping drama at the Tour de France last year. It should be noted however, that Contador was on a different team at the time, as was a majority of his current Astana teammates.


Exhibit C: Contador on the top of the podium. It should also be noted that just a little over a week before the race Contador was on a beach in the Mediterranean. He did not train at all for this race, because he was not initially invited to it. Yet here he is winning it.


Point is, Team Astana rules. They won the Giro without training at all. Pure Class. The Grand Tour Organizers should get over themselves because all they are really doing is preventing strong athletes from doing their thing.

Props to Alberto for sticking it to 'em.