Hurricane Irene

I am completely bored!  We have been "locked" in the house all day waiting for the worst of Irene to hit Southeastern Virginia!  There have been some big gusts of wind, enough to knock down a lot of branches and a mystery item from our roof (that will be fun to figure out.)  It has rained most of the day, but not all day, so we have had a few breaks.  Best of all we still have power (I hope I don't curse myself with that!)

So what is my issue, well like I said I am bored.  I am tired of hurrican coverage on TV, and yet I don't really want to get anything out to occupy myself.  I am being completely lazy.

Belle says that storms give her the munchies so she has occupied herself with lots of snacks.  She did make a great pasta dinner for us.  I can tell she is bored too and also doesn't want to start anything. 

So here we sit, bored and lazy, praying the power will stay on!

End of Summer Blues (or Back to Work with Earth, Wind and Fire)

Well, the dreaded day has arrived.  I have officially returned to work and left my summer time life of leisure behind me.  Right now it is the calm before the storm, literally and figuratively, but more on that in a minute.  I am excited about being back in Kindergarten, getting to know our new principal, and making some big changes to how I teach. 

Having said that, this year is off to a really wierd start.  I am in another new classroom and it is not fitting together for me yet.  I have moved furniture in and out, moved bulletin boards and alphabet letters (mostly due to my inept measuring) and it still doesn't feel right!  That is just the least of it though.  Sunday (the day before "D-Day") it was so smoky here from a swamp fire that you really couldn't even leave the house.  It did get better, but we are still getting smoke off and on.  Monday I worked from 7:30 AM to about 7:00 PM.  Tuesday was all meetings, not normally exciting but we did have an earthquake in the middle of one.  Since I live on the East Coast it was quite the event.  I felt like my chair was on a big bowl of jello and someone was jumping on it.   It really ended quickly, but it was still bizarre.  Also Bella had another seizure right about the same time as the earthquake.  Luckily Belle and Peter Pan had to deal with that.  Now we are all watching to see what Hurricane Irene is going to do.  I am sure there is some reason why we are afflicted with a swamp fire, earthquake and hurricane all in one week, but it is rather disturbing. 

So now I am trying to speed up my classroom prep, just in case we are not able to get in there on Monday.  Today I managed to burn both my hands with the hot glue gun (this is actually an annual back to schoool event for me, just not usually both hands at once!)  It isn't serious, just annoying and painful.  I did tell Peter Pan that I certainly couldn't wash dishes with this injury!  Belle is working on a "hurricane emergency kit" that would include all the staples we need.  Peter Pan isn't really worried at all.  I just hope that this is all the wierdness for the year, but I doubt it.  I got a preliminary look at my class list today and I have more than twice as many boys than girls, looks like a really "active" year headed my way!

Random Nonsense

I often have random "stuff" floating around in my head, and most of the time it is nonsense.  It doesn't relate to anything in particular, it is just there.  I have a friend who gets rid of his random nonsense by blogging, he calls it a mind dump.  That seems like a great idea, but I really can't steal his on the mark name, so I will just call mine random nonsense.

• Which part of "don't buy anything else at ITunes" was confusing to my child?  $3.98 again today.  This child says that it is old stuff just now coming through.  Does anyone else know if ITunes holds off on billing?  I'm curious.
• What provokes our dog Satan to bark randomly?  Today she has done this several times.  I can't see any squirrels, birds, or even bugs.  She has been barking while standing in the middle of the floor, laying on the sofa, and even sitting in my lap.  As I type she is barking at a truck out on the street.
• Speaking of Satan, never tell anyone at the vet's office you call your dog Satan.  They bring out a muzzle.
• My computer is running exceedingly slow and this causes me to start randomly clicking all over the screen while I am impatiently waiting for the page to load.  This results in me ending up at entirely different web pages than I wanted to.  I guess patience is a virtue, I just am not that virtuous!
• Arby's Angus Cool Deli sandwich is amazing!  I tried one the other night and it was delicious.  I am afraid to look up the nutrition information because I am sure it is not a healthy choice, but YUM!
• As long as I am talking about food I think I may be addicted to hummus.  I can't get enough of it all the sudden.  Again, I am not really looking at the nutrition info before I eat it.  It is made of a vegetable after all, how bad can it be?
• I am EXTREMELY glad the NFL strike is over.  Of course I love football, but mostly I didn't want to hear anymore about it, and I need something to occupy Peter Pan on Sunday afternoons so I can nap!
• July is coming to an end.  That means that I need to start gearing up for school.  I will be heading in next week to start working on my classroom.  Summer is almost over.
• I will miss my vacation time, but I won't miss this heat.  It is killing me!  Especially since Peter Pan wants to keep the thermostat set at 78.  I keep turning it down to 75 (heaven help us, I might start an ice age in the house).
• It's okay soon it will be cold out and Peter Pan will insist that the heat not go above 62.  I will be cold and happy!

So I really don't think about much I guess, but it is summer break after all.  Soon enough I will have to return to the real world.  For now I will continue to bask in the last golden days of my summer vacation.

Update

"It's all good news." said the doctor.  Belle's bone scan showed that there is no recent stress fracture in her back.  She may have an old stress fracture, but the only way to tell would be a Cat scan and the doctor doesn't feel like she needs to have one since it wouldn't change how he would treat her.  Basically it is rest and physical therapy.  She can do limited activity, but no running.  She is not supposed to arch her back, so no layback spins, and jumping is pretty much out.  So, while it is good news, it still is going to limit her right now. 

Where do we go from here?  Well, I don't think we will be doing regionals this year.  Hopefully the cross country coaches will allow her on the team even though she can't run until at least the end of August.  Hopefully she will be able to come back strong, post some good times and keep getting some calls from college coaches.

I am actually hopeful that at the end of this road we will find some renewed success on the ice and on the road so to speak.  I hope that a true rest will help her skate better, run faster, and most of all feel good while she is doing it.

How is Belle taking it?  She seems upbeat right now.  She got some good news from our rink, she is going to be the recipient of both a skaters and a coaches scholarship to help her fund some training.  We are not sure exactly how she will spend them, but she will be able to take some classes, pay for some training and improve her professional skills with a seminar or 2.  That really helped her feel better during this process.  She probably won't be able to do skating camp in August, but will still be able to skate in the summer show.  Hopefully she will feel up to a couple of private lessons with the guest coaches.  And of course the fact that she got to go by herself to visit Grandmom and my sister and her family has helped her mood as well.  Today she went kayaking on the Rio Grande, hiked up a "mountain" (really more of hill in terms of New Mexico mountains) and was making her aunt and uncle a birthday dinner.  She is going to visit NMSU and UNM.  Hopefully she will skate some in Albuquerque. 

In the end, it really was pretty good news.  Not the best news, which would be a clean bill of health, but still not so bad after all.  Hopefully she will get that clean bill of health next month.

Level Playing Field

I just finished reading a disturbing article in ESPN.  It was all about the equity in sports.  It shook me a little.  I have always known that Figure Skating isn't a level playing field (or rink as the case may be.)  It is expensive and it isn't always the most talented that end up on top, but often a combination of talent and money that make the top skaters.  With lesson cost ranging from $50 to $150 an hour, ice time at $11 to $20 an hour, boots and blades upwards or $1200, well you do the math.  The skaters you see on TV probably spend $60,000 to $75,000 a year on training costs.  Obviously most people can't afford that.  What disturbed me about this article was the fact that it apparently isn't just in figure skating. 

2 sociologists studied the background of NBA players.  This was a revealing glimpse into the background of most players.  I think most people have the perception that the NBA is a ticket out of the inner-city and into a better life.  It was at one point, but that was in the late 60's and early 70's.  Now low income African American players are 33% less likely to get into the NBA and low income white players are 77% less likely to make it.    Having only one parent in the home also reduced the odds!  So according to this study the field isn't level.  There are still athletes at a disadvantage even if they have the talent and drive. 

What is the solution?  I don't know.  I do know that if you look at societies who do level the playing field they produce amazing athletes.  Think back to the Soviet Sports Machine.  They started looking at athletes in nursery school, plucking out the ones who showed the most promise and providing the training.  They dominated in many sports for many years.  Another example is China, where the government may be spending $400 million or more to support talented athletes.  Of course China is not without controversy.  There have been claims of abuse of young athletes, violations of age policies (both gymnasts and skaters have been found to have been ineligible due to age), and most recently former athletes found begging on the street.  This seems the wrong approach as well.  I have to think that my children would have been passed over by these systems and yet both have done well in sports.

I do know that I have always felt like money would have made a difference to my athletes.  We are not poor, not even close.  However, like the majority of my friends our living expenses have impacted our ability to pay for training.  So I understand the frustration of talented athletes who show promise but lack resources.  I don't have an answer, but I think this is something that needs to be reexamined.  We do want our best and brightest to have equal opportunity don't we?

Bone Scan

Today Belle had a bone scan on her spine to see if she has a stress fracture.  If you have never had a bone scan then you really don't know what you are missing.  It starts with an IV injection of radioactive dye.  Then you get to wait for 3 hours while the dye circulates.  Finally you go back and get the scan.  Belle had one previously for a stress fracture in her foot.  It took 30 minutes.  When you get one on your spine it takes a lot longer.  We were in the room for about 2 hours. 

At least CHKD (where we had it done) has video capability and Belle was entertained, but it was a long, painful process anyway.  She had to stay still in a somewhat awkward position for a really long time.  She was a trooper none the less and did manage to stay still.  We also got to go out to breakfast and then grab lunch at Doumar's, our favorite greasy burger dive.

Now it is time to wait and see.  We go back to the doctor on Thursday for results.  I know Belle wants an answer, but I want her to be okay.  No better than okay, I want her to be good!  I am praying that all works out well!

Toddlers and Tiaras and Judges (Or is Figure Skating Really a Sport)

I needed a self esteem boost last night so I watched Toddlers and Tiaras.  I always feel better about my parenting when I watch.  I have never cajloled    bribed my child to get on stage/practice/perform by feeding her cheetos and "dance candy" (sugar cubes).  I haven't spray tanned her, plucked her eyebrows, or any of the other crazy things I see on that show.  Last night's episode was particulary interesting in that none of the 3 featured girls won any of the big prizes.  It really was sad for the little girls.  I felt bad for them, and of the 3, only 1 mom said she was done with pageants.  She figured it out, any time your child is judged they can come up short.

It set me to thinking of the old argument Peter Pan and I have over figure skating.  He (like many people  men) refuses to see figure skating as a sport because of the judges.  His argument is simple, there is no accounting for personal preference and judges are inherently biased.  Football, basketball, baseball, track, swimming, golf and many other sports have definable parameters for winning.  You score more, run faster, hit the ball harder (i.e. home runs) etc.   To his eye there is no definite parameter for winning a skating competition.  And of course over the years he has sometimes been proven right.  Before you vilify Peter Pan for this opinion let me make it clear that he acknowledges the athleticism of figure skaters, in fact he can see that they are often amazing athletes.  He just feels like the entire "sport" is more of an art than athletic event.

Sure IJS is supposed to prevent that by providing a scoring structure (elements are worth a certain value and then judged on performance).  It has helped, but judges are still people and they have personal preferences.  Does a skater have a Russian coach and thus a more Russian style of jumping?  I have seen (and heard) judges take off points or criticize that.  I have looked at Belle's protocols at a competition and seen judges line up by geographic areas (northern vs. southern).  I have observed poor skating by a normally strong skater rated higher than fair skating by a new or unknown skater.  The judges are still people with personal preferences after all.  To be fair, I have never met a judge who was intent on doing wrong.  They are volunteers who take their judging jobs very seriously.  And who is to say that personal preference is a bad thing.

My argument back to Peter Pan has always been that there is a certain amount of judgement in any sport.  Umpires and referees make questionable, even bad calls.  In fact many of their calls are JUDGEMENTS of a particular set of events.  It can and does impact games!  He holds firm that there are still more definite ways of seeing a score (touchdowns, baskets, etc.) and thus it is not all judgement and we are back to  figure skating is not a sport!

I always thought that as Belle progressed Peter Pan would change his opinion and realize it is a sport.  Nope, he did see how dedicated figure skaters are, but if anything he more than ever remains critical of the judged aspects.   He has seen Belle passed over, underscored, and hurt by the whole thing.  Of course, this doesn't always happen, she has certainly had her successes, but I agree, it is hard to tell whether it was the actual skating or maybe just preference.  I am not talking about times when she got exactly what she earned but those times when we were surprised by the low scores or placement.

At the end of the day, I think that sometimes I have been like those moms on Toddlers and Tiaras.  No I haven't bribed my 3 year old with sugar ( I do see a lot of junk food in those hotel rooms at pageants!)  But I have allowed my child to put it out there and be judged.  I have criticized when I thought the judges were wrong (of course they were wrong, my child was definitely the best one!!)  Belle says she hates it when I start "getting all conspiracy theory"!  I of course don't see rationally about my own child, most parents don't.  I am trying to grow up, but I really do have a blind spot about my own kids! 

And for the record, I can sometimes see that figure skating is more an art than a sport, but I love it all the same!