Spring Ball Has Begun

The draft was this week and Andrew was picked by the Braves. First practice was today and the first game of the season will be February 25th. Andrew is very pleased, he was hoping to play for John Coulsell, the Braves manager. I'm happy because their uniform pants are gray and those are a lot easier to keep clean than the white.

Talked with Stephanie a couple of times this week. She is very excited about her classes and professors this semester. She's taking five courses this semester but one is a conversational French class so she won't have a lot of reading or papers for that one. So she's got two English classes, two French and a science lab.

Adam and Andrew had their semester finals this week. The only one either was worried about was Biology, but they both survived. Andrews Spanish teacher is going on maternity leave so all her students are being divided up and assigned to other teachers but Andrew doesn't even have his schedule yet for the new semester which starts Monday. He tried to get it Friday but they weren't ready yet.

Still waiting for the deck waterproofing to be finished. They were supposed to finish Friday but are now promising they'll be done Monday. I hope so, there are several winter yard projects I want to get going on but have been holding off on until there aren't workman stomping all over out back anymore.

I had a productive week though, got all the USFSA paperwork done for the last test session so everything is now recorded and official for all the local skaters who will be competing this year. Also got a head start on one of next months columns and a bunch of research done for a couple of articles so I can relax this weekend and just concentrate on the actual writing next week.

Busy Saturday

Stephanie arrived home from New York late Saturday afternoon. Mel (Sam's Dad) and Adam picked her up at the Burbank airport. She hardly stopped talking last night about everything she had seen and done and how much fun she had. She got all her laundry done and she's packed up and ready to drive back to school in a little bit.

I dropped Andrew off at the ball fields for his player evaluation early yesterday then came back to pick up his friend Erica who was joining us for the One Ring convention over in Pasadena. Erica's a big Tolkien fan and this was her first convention.

We all had a very nice time. Really enjoyed Elijah Wood and Sean Astin talking about their experiences making the movies. Andrew really wanted to ask Sean Astin about his role on "24" but the line to ask questions was so long he just sat back down again. I told him someone else was bound to ask and sure enough they did. Seems he got the role without even having to audition.

It was just a very nice day and we spent the evening telling Steph and Adam about our day and hearing all about Stephanie's trip. Adam's anxiously awaiting the start of today's NFL playoff games. He's a die-hard Bronco fan.

What's Up

We've been talking with Sam and Stephanie daily and they're having fun together in New York. Steph's so funny she called me yesterday from a bookstore in Greenwich Village because she thought it was the coolest bookstore she'd ever seen and she just had to tell me about it. She also ran into a friend from Calabasas High School who is now at NYU. Just bumped into her on the street, which was a nice surprise. They both raved about Spamalot and I have to admit to being a tad jealous that they got to see it.

Andrew's having some of his friends over tonight to watch some movies so I asked Adam if there is a movie he'd like to go see so that we can get out of their way for a while. He said he would like to see Glory Road so he and I will see that this evening.

Andrew has also talked me into taking him and a friend to the One Ring convention tomorrow over in Pasadena. It's a Lord of the Rings themed con so he didn't have to work on me too hard. Adam decided to pass however so he's going to hang out with my father-in-law.

The league draft is this weekend so Andrew should hear sometime next week which team he is on and what his game and practice schedule for the spring will be. I know he really wants to play for whatever team John Coulsell manages but it will depend on what order the managers get to pick in, Andrew's likely to be choosen early. Nothing to do but wait for the phone call.

A Little Trip

It's been wonderful to have Stephanie home for a while. She has to return to school on Sunday so she can buy her books before the new semester starts Monday the 23rd. She'll be starting her sophomore year this semester because of all her AP credits she's a semester ahead.

Sam had to leave today for New York, he's got a big show opening this weekend at the Javis Center, and Sam invited Steph to go with him so they can have some more time together and she'll fly back on her own Saturday. She's so excited they've got tickets for Spamalot and she's dying to visit the Met and see Central Park. It's her first trip to New York and I know she'll make the most of it. She's going to hook up with my Aunt Anne while she's there too so when Sam's working she'll have some company as she explores the city.

24

Andrew and Adam are both big fans of the show 24. Over the past year they've saved and pooled their money to buy the season DVD sets. I'd never gotten into the show, I'd miss too many episodes and lose track of what was going on but after watching the DVD's with them they got me hooked too. The show is so compelling you just have to know what's going to happen next.

The boys have been anxiously awaiting the new season which started last night. We had some friends over and all watched the two hour premiere, and darn it it was an awesome, it looks to shape up as a great season. We'll be watching again tonight that's for sure and the nice thing is if I have to miss one I know the boys will tape it for me so hopefully this season I can keep up.

Nationals is Underway

The US National Figure Skating Championships got underway last Sunday, January 8th and there are lots of LA skaters there competing this year in all four disciplines at all three levels. The television coverage is always just of the senior events but the novice and junior titles are being contested as well.

I've been following the results online everyday at the USFSA's web site. I enjoy seeing how the skaters I know are doing. This year is the first that the new judging system has been used at Nationals and the results so far have reflected the change. There are still some kinks to work out of the system but overall the new system is much fairer than the old 6.0 system. It's an overhaul that's been long overdue in my opinion.

This being an Olympic year of course the pressure is really on the top skaters at the senior level since those are the skaters contending for the coveted Olympic berths. With Michelle Kwan unable to skate there's going to be a lot of controversy and folks within the skating community are already taking sides.

The only skaters guaranteed a spot on the Olympic team are the ones who win the Nationals in their discipline; Mens Singles, Ladies Singles, Pairs and Ice Dance. The other spots will be determined by a committee made up of USFSA officials, skaters and coaches. There are three spots in each discipline, with the exception of Pairs, which has two spots. In case you're wondering how many spots each country has in each discipline is determined by how that countries skaters did in that discipline in the previous years World Championships.

I can remember when the criteria for an Olympic berth was solely your placement at the Nationals but the USFSA changed the criteria several years ago to allow skaters who were injured to file an appeal and attempt to still make the team if for some reason they were unable to compete at Nationals.

Is it fairer this way? Yes and no. Figure skating is a sport and like many things in life sports aren't always fair. It's become so physically demanding that the injury rate is depressingly high and every skater knows that every day they train they are risking a major injury that could potentially end their season or even their entire competitive career yet they choose to do this.

So how do I feel about the Michelle Kwan controversy? (Michelle represents the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club on whose board of directors I serve.) I don't think the USFSA should send Michelle to these Olympics based on their own criteria.

I feel for Michelle, she's a lovely young woman and one of the best skaters the US has ever produced. She has 9 National titles, 5 World Championships, 3 other world medals and two Olympic medals in addition to all the other international titles she's gained over the years and she deserves each and every one. Her longevity in such a physically demanding sport is nothing short of astonishing to me.

The appeal criteria is supposed to be based soley on international placements over the last two years not on a skaters overall competitive history. Michelle choose to sit out the last two seasons skating only at Nationals and Worlds and has competed under the new system just once, where she didn't fair well because she didn't have the necessary experience with it. I can understand that Michelle didn't want to put herself through the preparation of competing a full season after all these years but that was her decision. Other elite athletes could have taken the easier road too but didn't.

Yes Michelle is an icon world wide and yes she's the most decorated skater the US has ever had but that does not entitle her to a free ride to the Olympics because of who she is. The USFSA stands to lose a lot of money if Michelle doesn't go to the Olympics and considering how NBC has used her as a marketing tool it will probably effect the network too not to mention her own endorsements but the Olympics aren't supposed to be about the money.

Updating Life

I'm happy to report that Adam got his map finished and the painting is now done. The new drains in the back yard are also in so another home improvement project can be crossed off the list but I've still got to replace some broken window screens.

Very much back into my normal routine now and actually a little ahead of schedule somehow for this months commitments so yesterday I took the day off and Stephanie and I went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to see the exhibition Cezanne & Pissarro, Pioneering Modern Painting.

The exhibition was wonderful. I love the impressionists and have seen many of Cezannes and Pissarro's paintings in books that I really admired but it's not the same as seeing them in person where you can really appreciate the small details and the brush strokes. One of the things I liked best about the exhibit was the way it was organized.

Their works were arranged chronologically through the galleries which made it much easier to appreciate how their work evolved and changed throughout the years they were painting. They very often worked side by side each painting the same landscape and those were displayed side by side so you could really compare the two techniques.

Personally I think they are both brilliant but I prefer Cezannes later work from the 1880's and 90's to his earlier work. The broad strokes and almost geometric shapes of some of his early landscapes don't quite have the same visual appeal to me although they are gorgeous.

After seeing the exhibition we spent about an hour and a half wandering through a few of the other galleries. Any time I'm at LACMA I have to pay a visit to the Rodin collection they have. I love sculpture and Rodin is a favorite of mine.

Finished Deborah Crombie's IN A DARK HOUSE, it was every bit as good as I expected, a really excellent and suspenceful mystery. Started the historical novel POPE JOAN and am about half way through the third Star Trek: Titan novel ORION's HOUNDS which is excellent thus far. That review isn't due until next week so I can savor it a bit and not rush through reading it

Feeling Satisfied

I'm feeling very pleased with myself as I got so much more done the past two days than I anticipated. Got the column done and sent off yesterday and also managed to read one of the books I need to get reviews done for, a Starfleet Corps of Engineers book called HONOR.

The book wasn't great but it was enjoyable and I got that review out the way this afternoon since I didn't have to run Adam around. Since I'm ahead of the pace I'd set for myself I think I'll dive into one of the books I got for Christmas but was saving, a new Deborah Crombie mystery titled IN A DARK HOUSE. If you've never read Crombie and like British police procedurals I highly recommend her writings, she spins an excellent tale.

Adams Map Struggles

Having had two kids ahead of Adam in school he's at a disadvantage if he tries to pull the wool over my eyes regarding school work, especially as he often seems to get a teacher that either his brother or sister has already had for that subject. As a freshman one of Adams required courses is World Geography and one of the course requirements is the end of the semester project worth a full 25% of the grade. The project is to draw a big poster sized map of the world, color it and label every country, capitol etc. Not the kind of project you do in an evening or two.

Having seen both his sister and his brother struggle to complete the same project in time even though they started with plenty of time to finish it I started bugging Adam to start weeks ago knowing that when it comes to drawing, which he loathes, he was liable to be very slow. When it became obvious that he had no intention of starting I stopped nagging him, some things (like learning not to procrastinate) you just have to learn the hard way.

So now he's feeling very sorry for himself since his weekend plans went up in smoke as he suddenly seemed to realize the map is due next week and if he doesn't spend the majority of the weekend working on it his grade will plummet and he won't get into the honors history course he wants to take very badly next year.

I'm afraid I'm not being very sympathetic, apparently he was suffering under from some sort of delusion that I'd take pity on him and help him out. Guess he doesn't know his mean old Mom as well as he thought but at least I haven't said "I told you so!" :)

So Much for the Peace and Quiet

I had been looking forward to a quiet week to get caught up the usual domestic stuff that builds up when you've been away so that I can get back to my normal work routine. As of today I'm caught up but it's been anything but peaceful around here.

A while back we made arrangements to have the exterior of our house painted. For a variety of reasons Sam kept pushing back the start date and then weather became an issue so I assumed we were going to have to wait for a bit. With clear skies being forecast for the foreseeable future the painters called and Sam told them to go ahead. So for the past two days there's been a large crew of workman swarming all over the exterior pounding, scraping and prepping everything.

Our poor dog is completely freaking out with all the strange men hanging around making all kinds of strange noises. They pressure washed the stucco today, which was really loud, and I thought she was going to go out of her mind poor thing. So I loaded her in the car and drove over to a nearby lake that has some good trails around it and we took a nice long walk together.

Tomorrow, noisy or not, it's time to kick myself into high gear. I've got a column due Monday and two books to read and review by the end of next week. The boys have a lot of stuff going on this weekend and I'll be driving them here and there and needing to wait for them so I'll get a fair bit of reading done while I'm waiting at least.

Happy New Year!

We're back after having a wonderful time in Colorado. My Dad and nephew Ryan picked us up at the airport and once we got everything loaded up we were off to Mom and Dad's house for the night. The following day my sister and I took off with all four kids for Golden, where we stayed overnight before heading up to Loveland bright and early so the kids could enjoy some skiing and snowboarding.

This was my children's first skiing experience and Loveland has a great package that includes lessons, rental equipment and a lift ticket. Steph and Adam wanted to ski and Andrew and Ryan had decided to try snowboarding. We got them all signed in and set up then Ann and I settled into the lodge to watch the kids. The weather was perfect, overcast but not too cold and there was plenty of new snow.

Everyone got the concept quickly and they were soon headed up the lift to try their first run. All in all a very successful day with no mishaps, although at one point Andrew realized he was on a blue slope (definately not for beginners) but he had enough sense to take off his board and walk down until he got back to a green slope. Adam and Andrew called it a day about an hour before the lifts closed down for the night but Steph and Ryan we're the last off the slopes.

We were already for a big dinner after a day in the mountain air so we stopped to eat at a restuarant Ryan recommended and stuffed ourselves before heading back to the hotel. We were planning on doing some Geocaching (Or as Ann calls it hiking with a purpose) the next day but awoke to find a blizzard outside. By the time we'd had breakfast and checked out the snow had stopped but the wind was really fierce and bitter cold so the idea of a four mile hike didn't appeal to anyone. We headed into Denver instead to check out the new downtown 16th street shopping area where Ann took us to the most wonderful bookstore called The Tattered Cover before we headed back to Mom and Dad's in Colorado Springs.

We spent the remainder of the week just enjoying ourselves. Ann's husband Shawn took us for a short hike out in the Falcon area and the kids also got in some climbing at the Garden of the Gods. Mom and Dad always celebrate New Years Eve at the REA so Steph and I tagged along with Shawn and Ann to their bunco groups annual New Years Eve party. Their a great bunch of people and always a lot of fun. The boys stayed at Mom's to watch movies where we'd ordered in some pizza's for them.

New Years Eve was clear for once so we had great views of the fireworks being shot off Pike's Peak at midnight. Stephanie meet a friend at Occidental who's from Manitou and he was one of the AdAman group who hike up the Peak each year to shoot off the fireworks. It takes a brave and hearty soul to be willing to spend a couple of nights at over 14,000 feet!

Unfortunately we had a shorter visit than usual this year since the boys had to back at school today but we made the most of the time we had together.