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.

tree planting

Trying to dig a hole in your back yard to plant a tree... Not Easy!!! And I have some blisters to prove it.

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!

badass

Somebody today said my hair was "badass" ;-)

cell phone statistics

Cell minutes used in the last three months...

• May - 1645
• June - 1287
• July - 2285

Apparently last month was very verbal for me.
Actually, let me grab a calculator...
2285 minutes translates into 38 hours... Jeez!

despair.com

GOVERNMENT:
"If you think the problems we create are bad,
just wait until you see our solutions."

Other favorites:
Achievement, Agony, Change, Cluelessness, Compromise, Conformity, Demotivation, Discovery, Give Up, Goals, Hazards, Humiliation, Idiocy, Ignorance, Ineptitude, Mediocrity, Meetings, Motivation, Persistence, Possibilities, Potential, Procrastination, Propaganda, Quality, Stupidity, Teamwork, Tradition

Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks on August 12

This is going on my calendar!

"The Perseid Meteor Shower occurs when the Earth enters the path of debris left by the comet Swift-Tuttle in its last trip past the Sun. Swift-Tuttle follows a highly eccentric orbit around the Sun with an orbital period of about 130 years. The comet last passed by the Earth in December 1992. " OMSI

me trying to figure out where to put the trees...

wind in the hair

Went for a drive this morning. Had both windows down. The wind was blowing, but there was no hair in my face ;-) The wind blowing through your hair feels funny when it's really short. It feels like a massage on your scalp. It's kind of nice.

sleep

Went to bed at 6pm last night. Woke up a few times, including once at 8pm but didn't want to get up so just kept sleeping. Then I woke up at 3ish and was awake so I listened to a podcast, took a shower, did some work and went back to bed at 5am and slept till 9am.

party weekend

Went to Jill's party last night. Today there's party for NWMA today, a potluck at Armitage State Park. So busy busy busy. Especially considering the 6 hours it took to shop for, purchase and transport the trees yesterday.

There was a lot of me reaching up and touching my head last night. It feels funny, like I'm not touching my own head. I would forget that my hair was gone and then remember periodically. Interesting experience. I had a funny conversation with this one guy there. I was talking about all the new sensations. He had the same haircut so he knew what I was talking about and we bonded over our haircuts. It was funny. Here are some fun facts about a buzz cut:

• Touching the top of your head is fun - for your hand. Not so much for your head. It feels weird to have all the little hairs moving individually under your fingers. Like over stimulation. I think my head is slowly getting used to it though because I keep reaching up and touching it.
• When the wind blows through your hair you can feel it passing around each of the hairs. Totally weird!
  
• You can also feel the sun seeping through. I think I'll need to put sunscreen on my head today so I don't burn my head. My hair looks more blonde now that it's short. It's not providing much protection.
• Laying on your pillow feels strange. The back of my hair grows down and it's short so it grates on the pillow a little. The hair on the top of my head stands up though, like grass in a lawn.
• The back of your neck gets cold easy! I need more jackets with hoods.
  

trees, trees, and more trees

This one should be the biggest, at 40 to 60 feet...
eventually ;-)

2 Cherry trees, 2 Pear Trees, 2 Plum Trees

According to the tags the cherries should get pretty big as well,
maybe 25-35 feet. The others are dwarf or semi dwarf so around 8-12 feet.

Now I just have to figure out where to put them. And then there's a lot of digging involved!

gas station hair-do review

I stopped for gas on the way home from the store just now and there was a gas station attendant that I'd seen there a couple times before. He probably remembered me because of the car. He said my hair looked good. It ended up to be the longest conversation I'd had with a gas station attendant (and probably the only one that didn't have to do with my car). He told me about how he had longer curly hair in high school and how he likes his current cut (similar to mine) a lot better.

So first review is a thumbs up.

I think I'm going to buy some more earrings to wear now that there's no hair to brush.

correct me if i'm wrong...

But I think this haircut pretty much makes me look more like all the other Rippbergers who've had a similar cut.

It feels cool though, I keep touching my head.

why am I still surprised

I don't know why I still get surprised by this kind of thing, but I really do.

This morning I went over to my mom's to drop off a job for Ben. I got out of the car and was walking up the door and this minivan with a load of kids in it was driving by... very slowly... and staring. I looked over my shoulder several times wondering why they'd slowed down to like 5 mph. I must have had a really confused look on my face. I couldn't figure out why they were all staring.

So I ring the doorbell and as I'm waiting it hits me. They were looking at my car, not me. Duh.

(fun) sore

I'm a little bit sore everywhere from boxing on Wednesday. It was really fun and I'm totally going next week. But I almost sneezed yesterday, but couldn't. The buildup was there but when I got to the point where I should sneeze the muscles refused to comply. Even my forearms are sore. I'm definitely going back next week ;-)

hair review

I like it. Lots of people said it was cute. I'm not sure how I feel about having cute hair, but we'll see how it goes.

I was tired of the long hair, so it was a good change. I think I'll try a bunch of different styles now. I'll try to have more fun with my hair. I pretty much only put it in a pony tail or just left it down, which took no effort. I don't want to spend a lot of time on it but I don't want it to just be in the way either. That's what it seemed like to me before.