Flying Pigeon

There was a piece on the Flying Pigeon bicyle on the Olympics coverage today. It was pretty funny. I was laughing out loud as they compared them to the $10k olympic indoor racing bikes.

"The Flying Pigeon was the single most popular mechanized vehicle on the planet."

bad losers

Team USA loses bid for fourth straight softball gold medal

I saw this on my start page and clicked on it because I remember hearing about how the team hadn't lost since 2000. Personally I found myself laughing as I read it. These players do not know how to lose. It's kind of embarassing. They're all crying and saying it wasn't supposed to happen like this. But, OMG, they won for how long and they have ONE loss and they freak out. Whatever.

On the other hand I'm pretty excited for Yukiko Ueno of Japan who the day before "had pitched 21 innings -- the equivalent of three complete games -- to get her team to the gold-medal match." ... "Though it's rare for a pitcher at this level to work consecutive days, Ueno's performance can stand with any in these games. Not only was it physically demanding in China's thick air, but she couldn't afford a misstep in two matchups with the U.S. or against the free-swinging Aussies, who won bronze." Now that's exciting.

But the US team crying about a silver and saying that's not how it was supposed to be? That's embarassing.

Laptop fun

I'm sitting here going thru my work email on my laptop as I watch the Olympics on the projector. I just measured the "screen" on the wall: 8 feet by 6 feet. Big.

The couch is really comfy as well. A very relaxed work envoirnment. But considering it's 9pm it's really extra cirricular work.

sports and politics

In watching the Olympics I've seen several news reports on different political factors that have influenced the Olympics in the past. I remember watching the 1984 Olympics on TV. We were staying at someone's house at the time. I was young so I don't know why. I do rememer that they had a washing maching that sounded like a spaceship taking off durring the spin cycle. But I was only 8 so I didn't know any of the political stuff. I just thought watching the Olympics was cool. Interesting to hear now about how China made their return that year based on a certain envoy going there and convincing them not to boycott the games with the Soviets.

I was excited for the US Men's gymnastic team to get the bronze because it was such an interesting story with all the alternates that got put in after the main guys dropped out. It was really great to see a lot of them do their best when the commentators seems like it wasn't necessarily expected from them. I think they did a good job of holding it together despite a lot of changes.

But actually I think I was more excited for the Chineese Men's gymnastic team to get the Gold. They looked like they had worked really hard and I was excited for them. It was great to see them doing such solid routines and also just seeing them get the Gold while the games were held in China. This clearly meant a lot to them. So, Go China! Congratulations.

checklist

• Went for a drive
• Washed laundry
• Washed dishes
• Swept the floors
• Washed Lotus
• Washed Bronco
• Cleaned out inside of Bronco
• Went for a drive

Why I will never be a fencer...

I've never watched fencing before but I saw a few matches today. What threw me off was the screaming every time they got a point. It just looks stupid. Apparently the reason is to convince the judges that they got the point. But I don't care. They way it plays out (I was watching women's fencing) they just look like some rich girl throwing a tantrum. High pitched screaming and fist pumping and... it's just embarrassing to watch.

On top of that, while there seems to be a lot of athletics involved, I think I prefer contact sports. I've never really thought about it like that. But in this sport all you try to do is touch your opponent with the tip of the sword. The judo and boxing look a lot more appealing.

Olympics Live!

I'm watching Women's Olympic Judo live on the internet right now. It's really good. I've never watched Judo before. Makes me want to work on my stand-up game.

I guess you can win by holding your opponent down for 25 seconds. Interesting.

On the agenda for this weekend...

• Go through my closet and drawers and get rid of lots of clothes. I'm going to have a lot of fun with this ;-)
  
• Wash the Lotus. And if I'm feeling energetic I may even vacuum it out. I've had it 2 years and haven't done that yet so don't hold your breath. Maybe I'll wash the Bronco and the Rebel while I'm at it.
• Watch some Olympics! They're supposed to have a lot of online coverage which should be good. Usually with TV they only put on certain things. With the online coverage you can pick and choose what you want to see, like: Boxing!!!!! Trampoline sounds interesting. I've never seen that. I'll probably check out the Judo and try to see if I can learn anything about takedowns. I might watch some Taekwondo. Not that invested in it but anything where there's two people kicking at each other has to be fun at least sometimes. I'll also check out the: Gymnastics, some Swimming, some Diving, maybe Fencing just to see what it's like and some Track & Field. Things I probably won't be watch: Badminton? Table Tennis? Handball? I'm sure some people will enjoy watching these. I'm just not one of them I don't think. How come they have Badminton in the Olympics but girls can't box in the Olympics. That's just wrong. Really, really, wrong. Looks like they do have some women's wrestling though!
  
• Yardwork: pull out some weeds in the front so I can water the blueberries more. There's so many on the plan and they'd be so much more big and juicy if I watered them more. Also, figure out where to put the trees!

But for now I'm off to kick some butt in jiu-jitsu!