Showskate video

I got a video camera for my birthday, and I have been very excited about using it. So here's the video of my showskate routine. My husbands cinematic talents leave something to be desired, so when I get a better video I'll post it.

Showskate!

Austin showskate was last night. I did a duet with my niece Ally, and then I did my solo to a Chorus Line. Both routines went pretty well. I was nervous about my solo because I was the lowest skater in the group of 4. Ally and I did okay. We got 4th out of 5 which was a little dissappointing, but I didn't really expect much. I got 2nd on my solo which I was very excited about because this is probably the toughest competition I've had so far. So I was very pleased with my performances. I'm planning on posting my videos once I get my camera back from my sister and get them downloaded.

New Blades!

Well, I got new blades today. I was planning on just going up to the rink and scheduling to get them mounted next monday because I have the Austin Showskate competition this weekend. However, Charles said that he thought I would adjust fine to the new blades and he had them in stock, so he went ahead and mounted them. I decided to stick with the proffessional mostly because of cost, and they've worked for me so far, so why not? I'm excited, I can't wait to skate on them, so I just might have to go to the 7 am session tomorrow. I just hope they're aligned properly.

Pre-Pre MITF

Well, I passed my pre-preliminary moves in the field test today. I am very happy, especially because I've been having skate issues for the past week or so. Turns out that the blades I have (I bought them used), the rocker was completely sharpened off by whoever had them previously, so, this was good news and bad news for me. The good news is that this probably has alot to do with my inability to spin, but the bad news is that now I have to get new blades. I've decided to stick with the Proffessional for now. I really like the blade overall, and I think they will be fine for me learning my doubles. I may have to upgrade next time. We'll see.
So now I'm going to start working on my Preliminary MITF so that I can hopefully test those in April. I would like to take my silver test by the end of year so I can go to adult nationals competing silver.
In other news I went to my first power skating class on saturday. Basically, it was awesome. It was a little rough, because it's go-go-go and I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing most of the time, but hopefully the next couple of times I'll get better. I think it's really going to help my skating, especially with those crossovers I have to do for preliminary.

Selling Skates

So...I needed to write in a seperate post about my desire to start making some extra money for ice skating. I'm thinking I might want to start selling ice skates. There's no one in the Austin area that sells them anymore, as the woman I bought mine from stopped selling them. So I'm wanting to start. I need to find out what all I need to do.

Synchro bitchfest

$70 is the amount I pay per month to be on my rink's synchro team. We pay $70 regardless if we practice 4 times a month, or if we only practice 2.
$90 is the amount I paid for a synchro jacket and t-shirt.
$190 is the amount I am paying for my synchro dress that we will wear exactly twice. $190 is approximately $140 more than any other ice skating dress I currently own.
$750 is the amount I've estimated I will spend on Air fare and hotel for our trip to ISI (yes...ISI...*barf*) Worlds.
$100 is the amount I estimate I will spend on entry fees for ISI Worlds.

Am I leaving anything out? If not, that brings my grand total spent on Synchro this year to around $2000. That is approximately 5% of my gross annual salary. Is this worth it? Somedays I'm not so sure. *sigh*

A DOUBLE?!?!

Holy moly. I think it's time I invest in some crash pads. Today at the rink my sister suggested I try a double toe-loop. After I got done looking at her like she had lost her mind and I realized that she was serious, I decided to go for it. On my first attempt she said I made it about 1.5 rotations before I popped out and promptly fell in a slightly painful split sort of position. After that we decided to do some toe-loop-loop combos, and then I tried it once more, but I was too freaked out and only made it one revolution. So yeah...she said she wants me to start playing around with that. Pretty darn exciting...and scary at the same time!

Ow

I am VERY sore today. My sister made me do about 50 lutzes last night, and today I can barely walk, and my right knee hurts a little. *sigh* We were trying to get me on a good outside edge. I've been either switching to an inside edge right as I take off or right before. So I really need to break that habit. My skating this morning wasn't very productive. I worked on my Chorus Line program some, and I worked on MITF (and I found out I might not get to test until april :( boo). Things are progressing nicely. My sister said she thinks I'm about ready to start competing silver. I about fell over when she told me this because not two months ago had she said she thought it would be a while. So either I've improved dramaticaly in recent months, or she's changed her mind. :) Either way I'd like to at least be working on an axel before I start competing silver. I started trying them off-ice today. I used to be able to do them off ice, but today they were terrible. I'm not sure what that was about.
Tomorrow Ally and I are going to start learning our showskate routine. I'm pretty excited about it. I think it's going to be very cute. Alright...I'm off to bed. Early saturdays suck.

Another Awesome Skate

So I had another great skate tonight. I skated on both of the freestyles, and my sister worked with me almost the entire time! We worked on my camel spins. Those are coming along. I can at least feel what I should be doing. My sit spins are also getting better. We also worked alot on the flutz...really trying to get me on that outside edge. My niece and I started learning our routine for showskate. I'm excited about that.
I'm not feeling very chatty tonight, maybe I'll post more later.

Awesome skate

So I decided to hang around and skate the over-crowded wednesday night freestyle. My sister stayed and worked with me for a good half-hour which made me very happy. We worked on spins the whole time. We worked on getting me into more of a sit position on my sit spin, rather than leaning over, sticking my butt out. I had one at the very end that felt pretty good. I really wish I could see myself. *sigh* We also worked alot on camels. Those didn't go terrible. I was surprised that she told me I should keep my right side sort-of open as opposed to a spiral position. I've been trying to do it just like a spiral...so that made a difference. I can't wait to practice those more.
After she left I worked on jumping. My flutz is coming along nicely. I'm pretty consistent and even getting big jumps with the mohawk entrance. I tried to do a few with the back crossovers enterance since that is probably going to give me better technique. I did land a few, but I also fell on a few. I also did some loop-loops (which hurt my stress-injury...boooo), and I tried some toe-split jumps. Those feel pretty good. They feel like they might not be ugly. I just need to get my sister to look at them and tell me. If they're not ugly, maybe I can put one in my chorus line routine.
Synchro got cancelled tonight which I was a little bummed about, but that means I can go to bed early...I'm tired. Oh...and nationals start tomorrow!!! I'm beyond excited. The girl who won the novice ladies was at the houtson invitational in our locker room. Her coach was a real bitch, but I guess she fired her. Seems like that was probably a good decision.

Monday monday

Skating today went well. I love skating on monday afternoons because it's usually jsut me and 4 or 5 little kids. It's like having the ice all to myself. I ran through all of my pre-pre MIF. Overall they went okay. My back edges are getting better. I am forcing myself to just do them the whole length of the ice. Perfect or not. I'm trying to remind myself that at one time I couldn't do forward edges either and it didn't take very long to get those decent. My waltz 8s are feeling good, stroking and spirals as well. I'm still a little nervous about having the edges ready for the test on feb 18th, but I really need to get this test out of the way, because I still need to test Preliminary MIF before I can take my pre-bronze freeskate. I really wish I had started on all this a long time ago.
Other than MIF I worked on my usual list. Change foot spins are getting better. My backspin is getting much better since I started working on these. My sitspins were pretty on today. They felt much lower than usual (which doesn't say much). I tried a couple camels and they went okay.
I worked more on my flutzes, they went well. I'm still landing them consistently, now I just need to get off that pesky inside edge! I didn't work any on loop combos because my right leg has been bothering me.
Overall it was a good skate, I think I'm going to go ahead and turn in the paperwork for my test. It is just pass/retry, so I think they are a little more linient than other tests. Here's hoping at least. :)

30 minutes/week

30 minutes, that's all I would like with a coach. Any coach. My current coach, my sister, doesn't really have time for me, and as a result, I am largely self-taught. Which, as a result, means my technique isn't the best. So anyway...I'm considering asking another coach for a 30 minute lesson/week to just work on spins, jumps, and MIF. We'll see. Overall I've just been very frustrated with the progress I've made. I feel like I should be moving faster than I am, and I think more coaching would definately help that.
Other than the coaching stuff I've had a roller coaster of skating yesterday and today. Let's start with last night. I went to the freestyle, and the ice was still very soft which made it difficult to skate. I ended up falling 3 times on my flip (I can't remember the last time I actually fell on that jump). My sister did work with my some on my edges which was good. We talked about me leaning into them too much, and I'm not coming to the line straight...which is probably because my hoops are too shallow. So I've got to work on all of those things. I can't decide if I should go ahead and sign up for the test and cross my fingers I'll be ready. I only have one more week to decide.
This morning I went to the freestyle and I actuall landed some lutzes! I changed my entrance...I had been doing it from back crossovers, but I switched to doing a mohawk and two steps. This new entrance is letting me get into it without thinking so much, so it's letting me get the feeling for it. I'm still cheating a little bit in that I think I'm going onto an inside edge right as I pick, but I think that will come as I get more comfortable and maybe go back to the other entrance. I also worked on change foot spins, and those went remarkably well. I just need to get more comfortable on my backspin.
So for this week, I need to work on MIF...alot, change foot spins, sit spins, and my lutz. The first three are my priority. I'm going to Chicago this summer for ISI worlds with my synchro team, and I'm going to compete individually. I've been told that I should probably do freeskate 4, so I need to get the change foot and sit spin for that.
Okay...time for me to work on cutting music for showskate and for my ISI program.

No skating...again

The rink is closed again today. This time it's because the water supply line froze somehow making the ice too soft for skating (I don't really know...I don't know how rinks work). So anyway...we're finally above freezing, I'm back at work, and I can't even go skating today. :( BOO.

Snow day skate

The rink finally opened today and I got to go skating. My sister/coach didn't come, though because my niece didn't want to (something must be wrong with her). The ice was awesome because there were only about 6 people skating. I worked alot on Pre-pre MIF. Everything is feeling pretty okay. My forward stroking is good, of course CCW is much better than CW. My edges are all passable, except my back inside. They are downright aweful. I need some serious coach time on that. My spirals are good, except I'm having a hard time staying off my outside edge on my left one. Finally, my waltz 8's are much improved, and I am hitting that center mark pretty consistently.
Other than that I worked on loop-loops which I have never done before. They were surprisingly good, and I like them alot more than waltz-loops. I also worked on lutzes (sp?). Sheesh...I'm not sure why I'm having such a difficult time with these. If anybody has any tips, I would love to hear them.
I also worked alot on spins. After my competition this weekend, I realized I need to pick it up in the spin department. So I worked on camels, laybacks, and I started to attempt a scratch-back scratch, although that one didn't go so well.
Overall it was a good and productive skate.

I've also decided that I should post some of my goals for 2007:
1. Pass through Juvenile MIF (I'm hoping to test Pre-pre on feb 18, we'll see what my coach has to say)
2. Pass adult silver free skate
3. Of course, land an axel consistently, and maybe some doubles

Beyond that, I hope to compete in the 2008 adult nationals at the silver level, and I really would like to compete championship gold by 2009. I've got alot of hard work ahead of me before that can happen, though.

Stupid weather

So because it's snowing outside, the ice skating rink has been closed since yesterday. :( All I've wanted to do is skate, but I can't. I did at least go work out last night, so that was good. I did 43 minutes on the bike. Hopefully the gym is open today so we can go this afternoon.

Pictures!

Pictures from the competition are up here. My events were: saturday, event 2 and 8, and sunday, event 20.

New Layout

I was tired of the old one, so I finally sucked it up and redid my blog. As for the rest of my day off? I hope to go skating to work on my MIF, and I really need to go work out. I'll probably end up just watching Grey's Anatomy all day, though.

Star of Texas Recap

Well, I had a pretty good weekend in Houston. It made me want to go to Adult Nationals really bad, though. And I have neither the time nor the money to go this year. I WILL go next year, though. Hopefully competing as a silver.
Yesterday I skated my compulsories and freeskate. I was originally signed up for Pre-Bronze compulsories, but this week they told me my competitor dropped out, so on wednesday I decided to skate bronze, and had to learn a new program, full of things I'm bad at like waltz-toe loop and a sit spin. I actually skated pretty well, though. I was pleased, and I placed 1st out of 2.
My freeskate wasn't what I was hoping for. My first jump is a loop and it was fabulous, then on my waltz-loop I put my foot down, but I was happy with this because I had been struggling all week with it. Then I almost put my hand down on my flip jump. This exact same thing has happened every time I have done it in competition. Finally, I feel on my salchow-toe loop!!! Seriously, something must be wrong with me. Everything else in the program was fin, though, but I really was not pleased with my performance and I expected to get last. Turns out the judges disagreed, though, and I got 2nd/4. And, one judge put me first. I'm guessing that my artistic score is what made me do so well, because technically I was way behind the person who got first. I didn't really watch the other two though because they were before and after me.
Today I had my artistic. I was relatively nervous because I didn't do much practicing on this one. But it went great. I did the same thing I always do on my flip, but everything else was good. It was my competitor's first competition and she was very nervous. She did well, though. I think she was annoyed that I was in the no-test group, but I just don't have the jumps or spins to compete bronze yet, and this is where my coach thought I should be.
Overall everyone was very nice. I left saturday feeling great. I left today feeling pretty good, although I felt attacked by this girl. It was a good competition, though, and I look forward to going back next year. I need a new freeskate program, though. I am totally over this days of thunder one.

Next up I have Austin Showskate. I am going to be doing my same chorus line number (although we may improve it a bit), and I'm also going to be doing something with my niece. I'm looking forward to this one. I think we're going to do a song from the princess diaries 2.
I'm going to try to post more regularly as now I'll be working on my pre-preliminary moves in the field.

Star of Texas

Wow. It has been a long time since I last posted. Not too much has happened. My loop has become pretty consistent, my flip has become really good, and I've been working hard on my waltz-loop. The past week I have been helping my sister coach the basic 1 and 2 classes. That has been a fun opportunity for me to learn some about coaching. Today I'm heading to Houston with her for a competition my niece is in. Next weekend I'm heading back to houston (solo) for a competition I am competitng in. I'm feeling pretty good about that competition, and I'm really looking forward to it. My last competition in Houston was my first competition ever and I was pretty dissappointed with my performance. I think I've improved tremendously since then, and I think I should do well. I feel good about the levels I'm competing in, and I think it should be fun. The only bad thing is my sister (my coach) can't come, so it's going to be my first competition alone.
My sister is here to pick me up. Time to go.

flutz and camel

I started working on my lutz yesterday. It's proving to be much more difficult than I anticipated. Today, I did land 1 flutz, though. I also started working on a camel spin. It's not going so great right now, but it's just beginning.
I'm going to get tested in January. I'm trying to decide between taking the standard moves in the field tests and the adult ones. I like the idea of the standard ones because I may want to do a little coaching sometime. I also think that I will have to work harder and my skating skills should be stronger if I do the standard track. Oh decisions.

Breakthrough

Well...this weekend it happened. I finally landed a REAL flip! I had been getting pretty consistent with my loops, and I could land flips 1/4-1/2 rotation short (which is alot, I know). Then friday night someting happened and I started doing big, fully-rotated flips. It is officially my favorite jump. Everytime I go I do at least 30 of them.
Yesterday I started trying to work on the lutz, but it just feels awkward and I am having trouble commiting to the jump.
I only have 2.5 more weeks until my competition in Dallas. I am only competing against one other person in compulsories and freeskate. So that's a little boring. I still don't have my artistic routine put together, so I really need to work on that. I guess it's good I'm not competing against anyone in that event. :)

In the past week I've...

landed my loop and my flip!!!! What a week. :) :) :)

Pictures!

Pictures from my first competition can be found here.
I want to buy one, I just can't decide which one.

I really don't update this thing enough. Since I started teaching I really haven't had time.
I skated in my first competition, the Houston Invitational. I didn't do very well on my compulsories. I had been having problems with my scratch spin the week prior, and it just didn't happen. So I got 3/3 on that. I feel like I skated really well on my freeskate. I got 5/6, so I was really disapointed with that. I felt like I should have gotten at least 4th. Oh well, my first competition is out of the way, and I am working hard for the next one. I'm going to be going to the bunnyhop open in Dallas at the end of october. My sister and I are putting together an artistic program for me to do. I'm pretty excited about that.
I started skating in my new skates this week. I love them, they are making a big difference in my skating. I started actually doing a loop yesterday! I am still 3-turnig out of most of them, but this is an improvement over what I had been doing. My flip, I am getting full rotation, but I am still two-footing it. I am also working on a flip-split for my artistic.
These new skates have made a good difference in my spinning. I started working on my sit spin yesterday, and on my next freestyle, we're going to start working on a camel spin.
So I'm feeling good. Hopefully I can start getting full rotation on this loop, and that then I can get the flip. Other than that, I'm looking forward to my next competition, ad I love love love my new skates. :)

loop d'loop

I've decided that I'm tired of not being able to jump. I skate really well, I just can't jump. So yesterday I started serious work on my loop again (even though this should probably wait until I have new skates since the ones I'm currently skating in don't fit perfectly...but whatever...I digress). So I have been focusing too much on trying to land on one foot, but I haven't really been able to get the height and rotation. I've decided to change my philosophy and work on the takeoff, getting height, and getting around. I figure once I make it all the way around it should be easy(ish) to land on one foot. So yesterday I did about a billion. I am seeing progress, I am getting more comfortable with the process of taking off. I switched my entry to a mohawk which i'm feeling better about as well. So hopefully in a few weeks I'll have a loop. Once I get that it's onto the flip.

Slow it down!!!

Well, I spent 3 hours at the rink last night. Although probably an hour of that was spent eating dinner waiting for the crazies to leave. My sister taught me my compulsory routine for Houston (posted below). Overall last night went decent. My scratch spins are going okay (certainly not great). My salchow is okay as well. I'm still way too timid on my toe-loop and half the time I barely even use my toepick.
My biggest problem with my skating is that I'm way too powerful for my own good. When I enter my scratch spins and salchows at the speed I feel comfortable at, the elements fall apart. When I slow down and enter them carefully, they are usually pretty decent. So...now that I know my compulsory routine, my plan is to practice practice practice, but mainly practice slowing it down.
I'm still waiting in anticipation for my new boots. I can't wait to get them. Reidell told my fitter that they should ship the last week in july or the first week in August. She says the usually tell her longer than they actually take, but this is the last week in July and they're still not here. :( I'm really hoping I can get them broken in before Houston.

Compulsory routine:
Stroking towards my right, CCW forward crossovers into left, outside edge spiral. Mohawk, CCW backwards crossovers to landing position. Step onto left forward outside edge, check, salchow. Step onto left forward outside edge, stroke, 3-turn into half-flip. Forward CCW crossovers, mohawk, backward CCW crossovers, switch to CW crossovers into scratch spin.
(sorry these notes suck...this is my first time to write program notes out!)

4 hours of skating!

So I skated for 4 hours on saturday. Let's just say my body was very tired by the time I left. Ever since I switched skates my scratch spin and my salchow have been really off (not that they were that great to start with). So my sister and I worked on those. Turns out I'm leaning too far over in my salchow entrance. I need to keep my upper-body more upright and I can land them alot better. I also need to make sure I check before jumping. For my scratch spin I'm also leaning too much with this, I need to keep my upper body upright in the preparation, then when I step into the spin, I need to concentrate on not dipping my left arm. I also need to kick myself of my spotting habits. I tend to spot the first couple rotations and not the rest. *bad jacki*

I don't know if I posted, but I finally splurged and ordered a pair of silver star boots. I have a pair of proffessional blades that I'm going to put on them. I also registered for the Houston Invitational which is Labor day weekend. I'm hoping I'll have my new skates broken in (I'm hoping to get them by the end of this month) and can wear them for that. I'm also hoping to start learning my program this week. I'm skating to the Days of Thunder theme, and I'm pretty excited. Of course I think figure skating is going to be difficult for me because I am a compulsive counter of music (thanks to my dance background). So I really think everything should have an exact count, and I know it's not that way in skating. *sigh*

In other news, I got a teaching job! I'm going to be teaching pre-cal and algebra I at a local high school. I'm pretty nervous, but excited too.

Well...today I did it. I shelled out half-a-grand on figure skating. I ordered a pair of Riedell Silver Stars. I'm pretty nervous about the arch issues I've had, but I'm hoping that havig a good-fitting boot will solve some of those problems. I also registered for the Houston Invitational. My first competition. Eek! Hopefully Riedell will have my boots in stock and I can get them this week. Otherwise I don't know what I'm going to do about skating.
I went skating today, and I've been working on my power-3's, and have them pretty good. I've got my waltz 3's to the left pretty decent, but my right leave something to be desired. This of course means my waltz 8's also leave something to be desired. My spins have been very off, I can't even get one revolution since I switched skates. I'm trying to not worry too much about it until I get in my new skates.

Okay, well I've skated twice in my new skates. The first time I just skated in them as is. That didn't work...at...all. Ow...arches...achey. :( The second time I bought some insoles. That made a slight improvement, but the arches are still hurting me something fierce. I'm also still having a heel slipping problem, which I know is very not good. Also, I still have these old blades that have barely any toepick on them, so I am scared to jump. So halfway through skating I decided my feet hurt and I wanted to jump. So I go back and put on my old skates...I step on the ice and almost fall on my face. Those blades (Ultima IV) are TERRIBLE, they are so much slower than whatever these ones I have on the new skates are. I was expecting to go somewhere and i just felt like it was slow motion. So I force myself to make one lap around the rink, get off, and put the new skates back on. So I knew these old blades sucked, but I had no idea exactly how bad they were. I really want to make my sister put them on just so she can feel my pain. :) No wonder I had such a hard time with that damn loop. :-p
So now for my third try in the new skates. I have two insoles in there, this made them fit nice and snugly (I've decided that these are still a 1/2 size too big), seems to take the edge off the arches, and seems to fix the heel problem. We'll see. I'm going to skate in them this weekend. Hopefully they'll work out for now. I'm pretty sure that within a few months, I'm going to have to get new boots. But my first priority right now is new blades. Hmmm...proffesional or phantom...I just don't know what to do.

new skates...sorta

Okay, well I bought some new skates off ebay. (I am in desperate need of skates, but I just can't afford to spend $600 right now, so I'm hoping that with this pair I can upgrade the blade and boot individually). They are Riedell bronze star and the blade is supposed to be Double Star, but I really think that it is either Club 2000 or Excel (yuck!). My sister got a pair of phantom blades off ebay that were supposed to be for her daughter, but the person selling them got mixed up on what size they were, so they fit me. So I think I'm going to put those on. Only thing is, they've been sharpened so much I'm not sure they can be sharpened anymore. Hmmm...she's going to find out this week for me. Even if I can wear them I'm sure they have at most one or two sharpenings left.
So onto my new blade delimma. I have always (until this most recent pair of skates) skated on Phantom blades. I love them, it's what I feel comfortable on. I have found some new for $350 from tidewaterice (although I've ordered from them before and it was a horrible experience, so I'm a little hesitent to order again). So that's a really good deal on the phantoms. My delimma is, I"m not sure I want to spend that right now. I could go ahead and get the MK professional (I want to for sure stay with the same rocker as the phantoms so I can easily upgrade later). But they are almost $200. Part of my is like, if I'm going to spend $200 on something, why don't I just spend the extra $150 and get what I want. I am just so indicisive with this.
Onto the boots. Like I said, they are Riedell bronze star, I think they are a couple years old, but they are in great condition. They seem to fit almost perfectly. Perfect length, perfect width in the toes. 2 problems I can see so far: 1) I think they might be a tad too wide in the heal 2) the arches are way too high for my flat feet. So I'm trying to figure out some way around these two problems. I'm thinking bunga pads might help the heal width issue (as well as help the rubbing at the top of the boot). But the arch issue I'm not sure what to do. I'm thinking some sort of insole might help, but I'm not sure. Anyone have this problem? Also, if you do, what brand boot do you wear for low arches?
I figure next time I will spend the money and get new boots, I just wanted to be able to upgrade my boots and blades individually to try to spread out some of the cost.

Okay, I'm not dead, I promise. I just haven't had anything interesting to write about, nor have I had the motivation. The skating has really stalled. I think I am really out of the range of my current skates, but I don't want to spend $500 on new skates. So, I am in the process of trying to get new skates, and it's going slowly but surely. I am probably going to do a competition in Houston over labor day weekend. I am really nervous about the thought of that. It really freaks me out that I am so nervous about a competition. I have danced and performed my whole life, and I LOVE performing. My problem is, I'm not very confident in my skating, so that makes me nervous. I'm hoping that with new skates, I will get a boost in confidence.
I have decided to start taking dance lessons again. I found a studio in Westlake and I'm planning on taking a ballet and Jazz class. Hopefully between this and skating I can whip my butt back into shape because let's face it...I hate running.
Right now, though, I'm not doing anything except working and taking teacher certification classes. I work from 8:30-6 and then I have my class from 6:30-9:30, and then I go home and go to bed only to do the same thing the next day. It is getting really old. Only one more month and I can get back to skating and start dancing again!

Big Oil

Okay, so I am REALLY tired of people bitching about oil prices. This has been a long time coming. Sure we can argue that the oil companies are corrupt and are fixing the price, but whatever. This is just the beginning. Oil prices are going to do nothing but continue to rise (especially as our supplies start to dwindle). We've made our bed, and now it's time to lie in it. All this time, we should have been passing resolutions increasing the fuel efficiency for vehicles rather than letting the oil companies get their way. (many) Democrats have been pushing for increased CAFE standards for years only to be outvoted by republicans. Now Bush is pretending to sweep in with this novel idea...how about we increase fuel efficiency! Bullshit. Okay, that's my rant, this pisses me off too much to write much more. Basically, I'm tired of hearing people who voted for Bush and drive SUV's bitching about oil prices. I only have one thing to say: get used to it.

Discouraged

Okay...so I am completely and totally discouraged with my skating. I keep trying to remind myself that I haven't been able to skate that much, so I can't expect much, but I just feel like I'm at this plateau, and I'm not going anywhere.
So after that day of actually doing at least 50 loop jumps, I haven't been able to do one again. *sigh* And not only have I not been able to do one, they've gotten completely terrible.

So, my sister is going to start coaching me on the wednesday night freestyle session and maybe the saturday morning freestyle. My goal this summer is to get at least 6 hours/week of skating in. Hopefully once I'm able to skate more often I'll start to see some improvement again.
My goal is to take the pre-bronze test this summer and to skate in a competition sometime this summer as well. We'll see, though.

I did it!

So I went skating today to try to get rid of some of the frustration of this week, and I got my loop! Now...don't get me wrong, these loops are small and ugly, but they're a start. I'm so very excited. :) Okay, not much time to write now.

Life update...whining within

Okay, so I've had a crappy couple of days. Yesterday my backpack was stolen from the student union on campus. In it was my wallet and my (barely 2 month old) cell phone. Aside from losing my stuff, I've had a difficult time emotionally with this and I'm not sure exactly why. On top of all of this, I've just been feeling really lonely lately. Literally my only friend in Austin is my husband, and as much as I love him, and I love being married to him, I've just always been the person who needs more than that. To top that off, all of my grad school friends are skattered around the country, and my undergrad friends are in either Houston or Dallas having a great time hanging out with eachother. And I'm terrible at calling people and chattig on the phone, and it's practically impossible without my cell phone.
Okay, I'm going to stop whining and feeling sorry for myself. I'm going ice skating tomorrow to try to relax. Hopefully my leg holds up and it all goes well. I think I'm just going to work on spins and MIF. It turns out (literally) that on my scratch spin I'm turning out my right leg as I bring it in and down (thanks to years of dance, there's really no other way) so I need to retrain myself to turn it in.

MRI

Well, yesterday I had an MRI on my leg, and let me tell you, for the bargain price of $1000 (so generously paid for by my insurance company, thank you) I got to have THE BEST time of my life. No seriously. Why don't they tell you before you go that you can't wear anything metal? Or that you're going to have to lay there for AN HOUR and you're not allowed to do anything, including move? Okay, so I get there and they tell me to take off all metal including my skirt and my bra. Hmmm...so they give me some shorts to wear but tell me my shirt is "just fine". JUST FINE?!?! Excuse me, but it is quite form-fitting, and in case you didn't know, you just told me to take off my bra. Now, I don't walk around without a bra on in my own house, much less the doctor's office. Okay, enough of that, though. So I lay there for an hour (I'm quite sure I moved my leg at least once) and it's finally over. Now I have to wait for the radiologist to review it (you know, the one that only works 1 day a week and makes 1,000,000,000,000,000 dollars?), and then I'll know what the deal is. I'm really hoping for that stress fracture.

Things you have to believe to be a Republican today.....

Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart

Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.

Leg ouch...

Not much time for me to update, but I went to the doctor yesterday. He thinks that it's either a stress fracture or something to do with my nerve, I'm not sure. So it looks like I'll be getting an MRI to see if it's a stress fracture. Guess I probably won't be doing much skating for a while. My last lesson is tomorrow. I'm hoping that we'll work on spins, but I'm sure it'll be jumps.

New Skates, no skating

Okay, so I haven't done much skating over the past month, therefore not many updates. I have a leg injury, although I'm not exactly sure what it is. The doctor says he thinks it's probably a stress fracture although nothing is showing up on my x-rays. I really think it's because of my skates. I got a pair of skates for christmas, and at the time I wasn't planning on skating more than occasionally for fun. So anyway, they are well below my level, and they've been hurting this one spot.
So that brings me to my recent decision to get new skates. I've only had the current ones for a few months, so I hate to spend the money, but I just can't keep skating on the ones I have. So, now I just have to decide what to get.
Oh yeah, congrats to Kimmie Meissner for such a great skate at worlds! I love that girl, I think that she is fantastic.

Loop

Okay, so a full week since I started getting sick, and I'm STILL sick. *ugh* I have a small eye infection, so I'm not supposed to be wearing contacts, but I find it impossible to skate in glasses, so I put in a pair of my old prescription I had left over and headed to my ice skating class. The contacts sucked. I could barely see anything (my prescription has changed that much), and I still have a head cold.

So this was my first day in freestyle. I worked on scratch spins and sit spins and they are MUCH better. I also worked on backspins which still suck. Then we worked on loops and guess what? I actually did 2 very small very ugly ones. Although, my sister had me doing them with my left foot on the ice, and this coach has me doing them with my left foot off the ice. This way seems much harder, but I guess I'll stick with it since that's what he wants. We also did a couple of half-flips, nothing too exciting about those, though. I think that by the time these 4 weeks are over, I should have the loop and flip. We'll see, though. Okay that's all I have to report now.

Sick

I guess I never wrote about last wednesday. I went skating and I took my basic 4 test. So that's done with. It was a really off night for my jumps, and it was too crowded to do much spinning. My niece was sick, and it turns out she didn't feel like keeping that to herself. Danny and I went to Vegas this weekend, and that's when it started hitting me. I haven't been able to get out of bed today. Of course, I slept all day, so here I am at 4 in the morning, unable to sleep. Anyway, I was hoping to skate on thursday, but I guess I'm just going to have to see how I'm feeling.

Public Service Announcement

DO NOT ORDER from http://www.tidewaterice.com/

I'll write a detailed explanation as to why later on when I have more time, but until then. DON'T DO IT!

slow and steady wins the race?

Okay, so I had a good day skating yesterday, I guess. I worked alot on loops. I finally have the half loop where I actually take off from my edge, I don't cheat and use my toepick like I was initially doing. I started trying to do an actual loop now that I understand the take off, but I'm really having some problems with rotation. So I don't know what my deal is. I'm hoping that in the freestyle class tomorrow the coach will be able to help me figure out what's wrong.
So once I figured this edge thing out, I worked on my salchows. I've always cheated them a little bit, so I think I've got them figured out off the edge too.

I don't really have anything exciting to write about, and I should be working, so I guess that's all I've got to say for now.

Freestyle Baby

About my weekend. Saturday I had my lesson. I've been in basic 3&4 because I wanted to make sure I had that stuff down well, even though I knew I could be in freestyle. So anyway, during my lesson, my coach told me that she was going to move me up to freestyle in 2 weeks (that's the halfway mark). But she asked to see my waltz jump, and after seeing that, she went ahead and bumped me up on saturday. So, I stuck around for the freestyle class, and it turns out that I'm one of the most advanced in that. I think that my time in group lessons is about to end. The coach saturday was a sub, and he was totally worthless. I'm hoping that the actual coach for freestyle is much better. So anyway, I'm hoping they'll be able to teach me the loop and the flip. Even though I know how to do them both, I'm obviously doing something wrong since I can't actually do either one. :)

So after all of this, I stuck around for public session. My right leg has been really bothering me. I'm not sure exactly what the problem is. It hurts on the outside right above my ankle. It hurts to touch, but it also hurts to walk sometimes. I'm thinking it's a problem with my boots (they aren't the most comfortable in the world), but I'm not sure. So anyway, I tried to take it a little easy because of this, but my sister really wanted me to practice the loop, so practice I did. I've almost got a half version down (where I land on my left foot), although I'm still a little shy of a full rotation. So I'm planning on working on that some more today.

Other than that, all I have to say is I'm excited about Skating with Celebrities finale, and then women's event at Turino! Okay, time to get to work...

spining spinning spinning

Okay, so yesterday I had a great evenig at the rink, although it got off to a rough start. I made the mistake of eating sonic before I went, and then I spun and spun and spun until I thought I was going to puke. Then, they blocked off half of the rinnk for classes. So I decided to take a break and I layed down for half an hour or so and waited for my sister. Once I was feeling better I worked on some edges, some backspins and some jumps. My toe-loop is actually pretty good now, and I worked on making my salchow less swingy. My flip I got more height than I've ever gotten. So much so that I was surprised in the middle and bailed. I really think that if I could just commit to it I could land it just fine. I'm getting close, that and the loop will be my focus in freestyle.
Then at the end of the evening I worked on spinning some more. My scratch spin is getting somewhat consistent, although I still lose it at the very end. THat's not the worst thing that can happen, though...it just means I need to cut it short. But, I would like to get it a little more solid. I finally have a sit spin, sort of. I can't get very low, but I was getting some consistent revolution which was an improvement.
I did manage to fall once on my elbow and now I have this huge bump that hurts to the touch. Last night it was hurting just to move it, so at least I've made some improvement as far as that goes.

For this weekend...I have my lesson tomorrow morning, and then public session. Then I've got some friends coming in town. Then sunday night I'm going to cook a benihana dinner for my sister and her family for her dinner (i think...I haven't verified this yet). Should be a good weekend.

spinning and jumping

Well, I didn't think I was going to get to skate today, but my evening class was cancelled, so off to the rink I went. I had a really good skate. I worked on my scratch spins, and I think I've got it figured out what I need to do with them...the only problem is convincing my body to do it. :) My backspins I can do two decent rotations reasonably consistently...so I just need to keep working on that.
I broke my promise and worked on jumping today. I worked on my toe-loop. I'm working on getting more speed into it, and some more height. I also worked on my flip, although I still haven't landed it once. I just can't seem to get the rotation needed. But, I'm not going to let it worry me. I also tried to get a loop. That one just eludes me on how to get off the ice, though.
I also committed myself to som stroking excersizes...I need to get myself in shape, so everytime I skate I really need to spend some time stroking. This should also improve my comfort on the ice.

Right now I'm watching the pairs competition on my Tivo. I'm excited to see Baldwin skate, but that's really it. Okay...enough posting for me. Later.

Pants?

I forgot to say that I HATE this new, women allowed to wear pants rule. It sucks...for singles it might be okay. But for pairs, there's just something about two pairs of pants out there...it bugs me. Okay...that's all.

Lots to say

Well...I should be working on my homework, but I have alot on my mind, so I decided to post, first. :)

First of all, I forgot to write about friday night. I drug Danny and some of his friends to the rink with me. It was a really good time. It was too crowded to do alot of practicing, but I did get a couple decent scratch spins in.

Today I went skating with my sister and ally. Again, it was really crowded so I didn't get too much practice in, but I did do a little work on my toe-loops, and they seem to be improving, mildly.

I've made some decisions about my practicing. I'm going to stick to practicing the basics and spins. I'm going to stop worrying about jumping besides working on my salchow, toe-loop, and waltz-toe. When I'm ready to jump more, I'll know it. I should be moving up to the freestyle class in a couple of weeks, so I think I'll just wait until then. I do hope to be tested for bronze by this summer, though.

Now...onto the Olympics. So normally I don't really care about pair skating. But the last olympics I started watching it. And this olympics is especially exciting for me. When my sister skated her coach was John Baldwin's father. So it's very exciting for her that he made the olympics, and made olympic history with the throw-triple axel. Very exciting. Too bad they're in 6th. I thought they skated a nice program. Surely better than one of those chinese teams...I can't remember which one...the one with the torn ACL.
The other news is that Michelle Kwan withdrew. That's too bad because this is probably her last Olympics. I think it's Sasha Cohen's year, though anyway. So it will be interesting to see. Now Emily Hughes is in. I didn't get to see nationals, so I don't know how she skates. I know I'm not a fan of Sarah Hughes, though. Sarah just looks so awkward on the ice, and her legs are never straight. So anyway, I'm excited to see how it turns out.

Okay...onto my homework. *sigh*

2nd class

I had a good lesson today. We worked on backwards edges some. Man, is that eye-opening. I am no where near as proficient at this edgework as I thought. But, now I have something to practice on. We also worked on two-foot spins, one-foot spins, and my scratch spins. That was great. My coach gave me some good tips on my spin. She told me to bend my knee slightly until I find my center, that seems to be doing some work.

After my lesson I went up to the north rink to meet my sister and niece. Well, after an hour they hadn't shown up, my foot was hurting, and I absolutely hated skating at that rink, so I left. I'm a l ittle dissapointed that I didn't get some more skate time in today, especially since I don't get to go on monday, but it's okay, because my in-laws are coming in town today, and thanks to Danny I was in bad need of a nap. So, the next time I skate will be next tuesday. That will be a spin day.

Blah day

Well, today wasn't a great day at the rink. I was so excited to go skating and then I got there and was just...blah. My spins were off today, I barely did 2 decent scratch spins, and I just am not getting the sit spin thing, not to even mention the back spin. The one thing that did go well is that I practiced my new toe-loop entry, and I got that relatively quickly. The flip jump is still the bane of my existence, though. I get so frustrated when I go and I feel like I'm not making any progress.
Saturday I have my second lesson, so hopefully I can get some of this basic stuff hammered out. Then my sister, niece, and I are going skating up at the north rink.

Monday monday

So monday was my first "private lesson" with my sister. I worked alot on my scratch spins, and they are feeling much better. Now it's onto my sit spin.
She gave me a new entry for my toe-loop so I need to work on that. Last thursday I had a great day for my toe-loop and it was feeling really good. So monday wasn't a good day, and that was pretty frustrating, but I'll get it... I hope.
She also gave me some crossover patterns to work on. They didn't go so well, but I'm going to work on it, and I think I'll get it.
I left my skates to get sharpened today. So I'm nervous that when I get them I'm not going to be able to skate. So my goals for tomorrow are to work on edges and basics alot. I'm not sure I'm even going to think about jumping. Unfortunately I have class on monday, so I'm not going to be able to skate then. *sigh* But hopefully I'll get to skate twice this weekend.

On a not-skating note, I got a phone interview with a company in San Antonio. It seems like it would be a great job, I'm just not sure about spending 3 hours a day in the car. That would definately put a damper on my ice time.

First Class

Well, Friday was my 25th birthday. I'm officially old. During the day I had tons of work to do, which sucked. That evening, Danny and I went to dinner at this Brazilian restaurant, Dona Emilia's. It was really good. Then we went to buffalo billiards and played some pool and then cap city comedy club. It was a really good night.
Yesterday I started my ice skating class yesterday. It is almost a private lesson for me because I am the most advanced in the class. The teacher helped me with my forward and backward crossovers, my edges, and my 3-turns. I think there was a chance she would've moved me straight up to the freestyle class, but unfortunately I was off my game and my 3-turns were sucking. Oh well...I think this class will be good for me and my technique.
After that Jennifer, Ally and I went skating for an hour or so, then we hung around the rink and watched a showskate competition. It was pretty interesting. I think next year 3 three of us could blow the rest of the competition away.
Last night They all took me and Danny out for my birthday. It was good times.
So, my 25th birthday turned out to be pretty good. Now I guess it's time to get started on the 2nd quarter century of my life.

I'm back

Okay, I've decided to start updating again in preparation for Danny and I getting off of our butts and getting jackilynch.com up and off the ground.
Right now I'm planning on using this as an ice skating diary to kinda keep track of my practices and (hopefully) progress. So I should really change the name of this blog to confessions of an adult figure skater.

So yeah. I'm almost 25 years old and I've just now decided to start skating...alongside my 8 year old niece. :) I've been working alot with my sister and I've been very surprised at how much I remember and how much I've learned. Right now I can do a salchow and a toe-loop, although I get freaked out alot on the toe-loop and bail...so it still needs some work. I'm also beginning to work on my sit-spin.

To pass the pre-bronze test I only need to be able to do 2 single jumps, a 1 foot spin, a 2-foot spin, and a spiral. All of which I can do. For the Bronze test, however, I still need 1 more single jump, a sit spin, and a 1-foot back spin. I'm close.

This weekend I'm starting lessons. I'm starting with Adult basic 3-4, and I'm anticipating being moved up to freestyle 1-2 relatively quickly.

Okay, that's enough of an update for now. I'll post more later.

friends

It really sucks that after 3 years, 300 miles is just now ruining friendships. :(

Quitting

So I'm thinking about not writing this anymore. I've basically lost the desire to do it. I dunno, we'll see. But don't be surprised if there aren't any new posts from me.

Not that anyone actually reads this to miss me.

Vatican admits homosexuality not a choice

Yesterday the Vatican announced that it intends to bar from the seminary men who "support the so-called gay culture" or have "deeply rooted gay tendencies."

Now, that they are doing this isn't really the issue here. They are a religion and are free to do as they please.

This is what gets me:
Many people argue that being homosexual is a choice. So, in that it is a choice, you can choose not to be gay, or have gay tendencies.
However, by saying that someone has "deeply rooted gay tendencies", and they cannot take a vow of celibacy (thereby swearing off any homosexual lifestyle by default) you are basically arguing that they are gay and can't do anything about it, not even by taking a vow of celibacy.

I dunno, it seems a little silly to me. Someone is willing to take the vow of celebacy and devote his life to God and the church is going to tell him no because of something that the church thinks is a choice anyway. I guess I just don't really get it.

Thought Control?

Reason number...I don't even know...why I would NEVER let my children go to school in Kansas.

http://www.classkc.org/

torn

So I'm torn. Of course I want A&M to win today (note that wanting, and thinking might happen are two different things), but I don't want A&M to ruin UTs national championship hopes. Hmmm...So I guess I want it to be a good showing by A&M (which so far it has been), and for UT to win by a squeaker.
Cause really, if we lose we don't get to go to a bowl, but if we win, we get to go to a crappy bowl that we don't want to be at anyway.
So yeah, texas win, but just barely.

Go Aggies! :)

casting stones from a glass house?

Doesn't anybody see the irony in the fact that we condem other countries for torturing and yet we have secret torture prisons all over the world?
Cause I do.

educated/liberal

So I've seen many studies that show that the more educated you are, the more liberal you tend to be. It's completely obvious from my experience that there is definately a correlation between the two.
Danny and I were talking a while ago, though. The question is, is it because you are more educated that you are more liberal, or the other way around. I just don't know because both make sense.

1. You are more liberal because you are more educated. This is what I was leaning towards because it fits me. As I got more educated I've gotten more and more liberal. Education opens your eyes to the world. It has taught me to question the status quo and that I don't need to be afraid of things that are different.

2. You are more educated because you are more liberal. This is the one Danny sortof leans towards. Which it makes sense too. Liberals tend to want to know more about the world. Conservatives tend to have the political attitude of this is how we do it, screw the other guys. So there is a lack of desire there to learn about the other guys.

So I don't know, I can see both sides. I wish there were more studies done on this. I think it's really interesting.

Firing Line

There were some really good firing line from the Daily Texan today.
My favorite statement from "Let them get married":

Maybe you should ask yourself the same question: Why do you care if gays want to get married? It would never even effect you, now would it? ~ Mike Harris

Also from "Here's the plan":

If your marriage is threatened by gay marriage, then your marriage is probably a mistake. If you think God is threatened by gay marriage and it makes him feel shameful and like lashing out, I suggest you find a stronger being to praise. Truly brave people stand up to a tyrant unless their need to be told what to do is stronger than their need for justice. ~ Ben Chorush

Talking Heads

So today in class we talked about talking heads, and the media giving equal time to opposite views. This is generally the practice on many of the 24 hour news channel shows: Crossfire, Anderson Cooper, etc.

Sure give both sides some time to share their point. I see the idea, but is that always what should be done? I say probably not. Let's take global warming as an example.

The scientific community is pretty much in agreement about global warming and what is going on. Sure, you have a few people who hold out, but they are way off base with the rest of the research and the scientists. So what happens? A news show wants to talk about global warming so they get one scientist that's agrees it's happening and one that doesn't. But here's the problem. That one scientist who thinks it's not happening represents an extremely small fraction of the scientific community, while the other scientist is representing the majority. But the viewer doesn't see this. The viewer comes away thinking it's 50/50, and is more easily confused about the subject. Not good. Because of the way the media has portrayed this it comes across as there being a debate about the subject when really there is no debate at all.

We see this same thing with health effects of smoking and evolution.

Here's to you Mr. Robertson

Oh Pat Robertson, you have infinite wisdom.

"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city," Robertson said on his daily television show broadcast from Virginia, "The 700 Club."

"And don't wonder why He hasn't helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I'm not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that's the case, don't ask for His help because he might not be there," he said.

It's good to know we have such a vengeful God and not, say, one that would send his only son to save us from our sins. Nope, instead we have one that hopes we burn in the fiery pits of hell all because we think science should be taught in science classes and religion should be left to church.
Yep...these evangelicals just really don't believe in the new testement at all. (obvious from their lack of following of Christ's teachings: care for the poor, the elderly, forgiveness, etc.). So what I'm wondering, is if they don't actually believe in the God of the new testement, why do they call themselvs Christian, shouldn't they be called something else since Christian is derived from the word 'Christ'?
Oh, and lets not forget that for hundreds of years people have voted to keep church seperate from state, and I think it could be argued that God has still been there for many of these people. So what I'm wondering is where exactly does Mr. Robertson get his information?

Power?

WHY does UT have to have power plants right in the middle of campus. And WHY does my office have to be right next to one of them? Right now I can't even hear myself think because of something going on at the power plant. And it's not like I can be like 'hey! keep it quiet over there, I'm trying to work on my computer...that uses your power...oh...' :( I can't even tell you how much this sucks.

Sadness

The side of the issue that most people fail (or just don't care) to see.




From the Daily Texan.

Ashamed

I must say that I am ashamed to be a Texan right now. Proposition 2 passed with about 74% of the vote. I am ashamed that that many Texans are so wrapped up with themselves and their own religion and how gay marriage could possibly affect them and their God that they don't even care about their fellow human beings. Gay marriage was already outlawed, but no, that wasn't enough. We had to write discrimination and hatred into our constitution. I guess that's the Texas way, though.

I can't wait until 30 years from now. This will become a non-issue and we will look back on this much like we look back on the 60's. I have no doubt in my mind.

Note: At least Travis county voted against the amendment 60% to 40%.

Kansas, Intellegently Designed?

The reason why I will NEVER live in Kansas and especially never allow my children to attend school in Kansas.

In addition, the board rewrote the definition of science, so that it is no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena.

I'm not sure what they mean by "natural explanations of phenomena." But my guess it that they're trying to say that the definition of science can include using faith as an explanation for things. Science is testing things using the scientific method. You cannot test the truth of faith or the existence of a God. This makes it religion. NOT SCIENCE! Freaking A, believe whatever you want, but keep it out of the classroom for pete's sake.

Scary

It's been obvious that something like this has been going on for a long time. It's too bad the patriot act makes it so easy for our president to gain information on political enemies.

Spurred by paranoia and aided by the USA Patriot Act, the Bush Administration has compiled dossiers on more than 10,000 Americans it considers political enemies and uses those files to wage war on those who disagree with its policies.

The computerized files include intimate personal details on members of Congress; high-ranking local, state and federal officials; prominent media figures and ordinary citizens who may, at one time or another, spoken out against the President or Administration.

Rove started the list while Bush served as governor of Texas, compiling information on various political enemies in the state and leaking damaging information on opponents to friends in the press. The list grew during Bush’s first run for President in 2000 but the names multiplied rapidly after the terrorist attacks of 2001 and passage of the USA Patriot Act. Using the powers under the act, Rove expanded the list to more than 10,000 names, utilizing the FBI’s “national security letters” to gather private and intimate details on American citizens.

But worried White House insiders say the intelligence gathered by the Bush administration is far larger, more extensive and potentially more damaging than the excesses of previous occupants of the White House. Even worse, it dovetails into a pattern of spying on Americans that has become commonplace since Bush took office.

“We’re talking about Big Brother at its most extreme,” says one White House staffer. “We know things about people that their spouses don’t know and, if it becomes politically expedient, we will make sure the rest of the world knows.”

What makes this worse than them just gathering information on people is the way it's used. This administration has ALWAYS attacked the person insteady of the issues. It would be practically impossible for them to win on the issues, so instead of trying that, they try attacking their "enemies" personally. They did this with John McCain in 2000 as anybody who knows anything about the republican primary knows.

Ed Helms reports

Better watch out, gay marriage is definately causing a downturn in society in massachusettes:

"The statistics are clear cut. Now that gay marriage is legal Massachusettes ranks dead last in illiteracy; 48th in per capita poverty; and a pathetic 49th in total divorces.

We better stop this! (Note that Massachusettes, one of the most liberal states in the country, has one of the best quality of life. Related? Impossible! Liberals suck and just want to take your hard earned money away and then spend it on stupid wars and highways to no where...oh wait...)

Oil

Okay, so this is something we've been talking alot about in our class and I've learned alot of surprising things, and I figure most people have no idea about any of this stuff so I thought I'd write about it.

According to an estimate by the United States Geological Survey we have between about 1.5 and 3 trillion barrels of petroleum left in the world. This includes potential sources and known sources that haven't been drilled because of economic reasons.
Now, the average world citizen uses 4.5 barrels of petroleum a year. So at current consumption and current population (~6 billion) we can figure that the world's petroleum will last us another 111 years. However, at the current population growth rate (1.3%) we expect the population to double in the next 50 years or so. At this growth rate we expect the petroleum to only last us another 50 or so years.
Frankly this is big news. This means that in our lifetime we will have exhausted all the petroleum in the world.

Now lets look at the Alaskan wildlife refuge. They expect that it contains about 9 billion barrels of oil. Sounds like alot right? Well, we can assume that if drilled this oil will only be used for americans. So the average american uses 25 barrels of oil per year (note that this is more than 5 times the average world citizen), and there are about 300 million americans. So that means that if we swore off all other oil then we would have enough oil to last us 1.2 years.
Now I have heard the argument that the amount of oil produced per day is limited by the size of the pipeline, so factoring that in the oil will last us 200 years. But here's the rebuttel to that. Let's pump the oil through a line of drinking straws. Then it will last us thousands of years. Point is this argument is stupid. There is a finite amount of oil in there, and putting it into the number of years it would last us is simply a way for people to visualize how much oil is available.
So the real question is this, is it worth it? Is it worth drilling in a refuge for one years worth of oil? Especially when we could easily save this amount of oil if people would stop driving their SUV's and if we could get congress to improve higher CAFE standards. Even if people kept on with their SUV's we could save this simply by everyone filling up the air in their tires. It's not alot of oil and frankly I think we should be focusing on the larger problem of oil shortage than simply putting a bandaid on the problem by drilling.

This is a crisis we are headed towards in our lifetime. If we keep on like we are then there are big problems to come when we hit what's referred to as "peak oil". So here's the deal with peak oil. As our population increases we will increase the amount of oil we use. We are currently producing petroleum that keeps up with this rate. But, we will eventually reach a point when we are producing the maximum amount of petroleum we can and after that it's going to start tapering off. Well, the population is still going to be growing and therefore consumption increasing, but production will be decreasing. So we will reach an oil crisis where production can't keep up with consumption. Now if we haven't already invested in new energy sources we are basically screwed. The USGS expects us to reach peak oil anywhere from 10 to 30 years from now, but the thing is there is noway to really tell when we are going to reach this point.

Anyway, I've blubbered on about this enough for now. I just think this is a really important point that we need to start pushing our government to do something about. Letting the car lobbies get by with making congress vote down the higher CAFE standards just isn't acceptable. (BTW, the most recent vote that failed was to increase fuel effeciency from about 26mpg to about 33 mpg, not a huge increase).
Okay, that's all for now. More to come later, I'm sure.

My Favorites

My favorite t-shirts I've found. Now just to decide which ones to get.

"Of course it hurts. You're getting screwed by an elephant."

"If you voted for Bush, a yellow ribbon won't make up for it."

"Poverty, Healthcare, and Homelessness are moral issues."

"At least in Vietnam, Bush had an exit strategy."

"My dog is smarter than your president."

"Intelligent Design: Holy smokescreen!"

"Religious Fundamentalism: A threat abroad, a threat at home."

"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism - Thomas Jefferson"

"Evolution is just a theory. Just like, um, Gravity..."

"Land grabbers do it by eminent domain."

"I'd rather have a president who screwed his intern than one who screwed his country."

"Who Would Jesus Bomb?"

"If you support Bush's war, what are you still doing here? Suit up and ship out, soldier!"

"If Jeb runs, I'm moving to a country who's dictators come from a smarter family."

"You voted for W, so SHUT UP about the gas prices." - one of my favorites

"FACT: Bush Oil: 1999 - $19 barrell, 2005 $70 barrell"

"Jesus was a social activist liberal."

"If Bush is a Christian, then I'm the virign Mary."

"Keep your theocracy of my democracy."

"Pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion."

"To announce...no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is no only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people. - Teddy Roosevelt"

"Unemployed but safe from gay marriage!"

"Don't allow yourself to become so moral that you forget what it is to be Christian. Embrace Christ, not hate."

"When Jesus said love your enemies, I'm pretty sure he meant don't kill them!"

""

The "Theory" of Gravity

Holy cow I came across this and it's GREAT!

Democrats Standing Up

I am proud, I really like that Harry Reid. He's got some balls.

While it is obvious the Republicans don't want to get to the bottom of what happened in the lead up to the war (because all arrows point to fraud on the R's part), the democrats do. One of the most important decisions a president can make is to send his country to war. And we now know that we were knowingly given false information and that the administration tried to silence any critics of the war (through any means necessary). We, as a democracy, have a trust in our elected officials. We were misled into supporting a war through made up intellegence.
Part of the reason we have 3 branches of government is because of checks and balances. Thus far the senate has done nothing to "check" on the administration.
Well, today Harry Reid led the senate into a closed session to investigate the run up to the war.

"They have repeatedly chosen to protect the Republican administration rather than get to the bottom of what happened and why," Democratic leader Harry Reid said.

"The Libby indictment provides a window into what this is really all about, how this administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions," Reid said before invoking Senate rules that led to the closed session.

Unfortunately we have moved into a political climate that doesn't allow for questioning of your leaders. If you question this administration you are either labeled "unpatriotic", simply a "bush hater" or "clinton lover". You're not allowed to disagree without it being personal. We have completely lost the spirit of compromise (as obvious from the recent SCOTUS nominations). The media has turned into a machine of Republican talking points (no really, watch the news and you will get the exact same points on every station and they can all be traced back to the republican party) - as demonstrated by the attacks on democrats saying that they are against Alito because they are against Italian-Americans (which, of course, is absurd because it is the Republicans that are the party of discrimination). The American people have no independent sources of information any more and nobody is listening to eachother, and frankly, I blame Mr. Bush. After all, Rove invented the political climate we are currently living in - win at any cost.

Anonymous comments

Anonymous comments are gone. I find them extremely rude, and I don't really like them. You know who I am, I have a right to know who you are.
So, you can still comment, and I encourage it, but you'll have to register with Blogger first.
Sorry.

Withdrawn

Well, it looks like Harriet Miers withdrew herself. No big surprise there. I gotta say I'm pretty pissed off at the way democrats are handling themselves during all this, but I don't have time to write about it now. Hopefully later.

Proposition 2

Turns out that the proposition that is framed to "defend" marriage in Texas could actually end the union completely. (I can't help but be amused) Here's how it's worded:

a) Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman.
b) This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.

Part b is what gets me. It is not qualified to apply to only marriage between homosexuals. HAHAHA...

I'm not even going to go into the ridiculesness of this debate. There is NO reason why two people who love eachother shouldn't be alowed to commit themselves to eachother. And just because you think homosexuality is wrong, that's your religious belief, and it's not up to you to legeslate that belief onto me. Thank you.
Besides, what's really hurting marriage? Two people who love eachother wanting to commit themselves to eachother, or divorce? While we're at it why aren't we fighting to make divorce illegal? The Bible says that's wrong, too. Oh wait, but that's not "creepy". I forgot. I think that anyone who fights against gay marriage but not divorce is a hypocrite. Tell me why you're not.

Found it

Well, I've found Jeff Schultz education background.

You ready?

He has a B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences from Cornell. Yep, that's it a B.S.

The Secret Lives of Meteorologists

(According to the Texas Travesty)

Meteorologists...
- turn their nose up at fortune tellers
- have gesture-offs with game-show prize presenters
- select their favorite restaurants "for the atmosphere"
- burn upon entering the stratosphere
- make bad long-term boyfriends when compared to climatologists
- try to yell out "NOW!" right as the lightning flashed
- have to get coffee for the news interns
- don't do autographs, small fry
- like to use their hands
- don't know the color code system either
- advise against rocking anything "like a hurricane," preferring that you evacuate coastal areas or seek higher ground in case of flooding
- go into excessive explanations of approaching cold fronts when someone says it's nice outside
- BitTorrent the Weather Channel
- call out hurricane names when they bang their wives
- wish the anchor would wipe that fucking smile off his face
- don't front
- left college early because of all the pressure
- dot their i's with tiny clouds

Iraq

The death toll for American Soldiers in Iraq has reached 2000. As I've been saying that's 2000 too many. My God bless them.


How many funerals has Bush attended?
0

Jeff Schultz - "Climatologist"

Proof that this guy is a quack:

Bill O'Reilly is talking about global warming and hurricanes and he throws the tsunami in there more than once. Let's get this straight, the tsunami is caused by an earthquake which is caused by plate techtonics which has absolutely nothing to do with global warming. If this guy wasn't a quack he would have corrected Bill O'Reilly in this fact.

Either way some of what he says is true, but he's ignoring the fact that aside from these natural variations we are screwing with our planet. Global warming is helping to melt the polar ice caps which will in turn slow down the conveyor belt which will result in cooling in Europe. The question is how much and how fast.
Anwyay, that's a tangent, not on point. So I think this guy is a hack. I can't find any information on his education, though I'm still looking. I looked at the Journal of Climate back through 1995 and he doesn't have a single paper in there. (If he's doing anything of merit, he should have a paper in there). He works for a weather consulting firm that does 90% of it's press on Fox News. So anyway, so far this guy has nothing going for him and I think he's an idiot.

Volunteer

So I'm looking for some volunteer oppertunities in Austin. My ideal one would be tutoring kids in math and science.

I've been wanting to do something like this for a long time, but I'm a chicken, so I've never done anything about it. But I've decided that I"m going to get over it, and help some kids learn.

Anyway, if you know of any programs, please let me know.

John Edwards

I just got the opportunity to hear Senator John Edwards speak and all I can say is wow. I knew I liked that guy, but wow.
You just don't hear politicians talk like that anymore. He came in with ideas on how to fight poverty, and is touring college campuses across the nation hoping to start a grass roots movement. I like what he says he's started at Eastern North Carolina University (?) Basically what he says to the low-income high school kids is that if they are qualified to go to college, and they stay out of trouble, and commit to working at least 10 hours a week on campus or off, they can go to school the first year tuition free and books paid.

The republicans of late have been working hard to destroy our higher education system and it's availability to the middle and lower classes. Thanks to Bush's tax cuts they have recently decreased the amount of financial aid available, and like it or not, that isn't going to affect the lower class, that's going to directly affect the middle class.
Also in Texas we have tuition deregulation now which is causing tuition to sky-rocket. That is thanks to Texas Republicans as well.

I like that John Edwards acknowledges where he comes from. So many people think that if you work hard you will succeed and if you don't you won't. While partly true, that's not really the case. Let's take a look at myself shall we?
I went to public school growing up, my mom surely couldn't afford private school. Then I went to a public university, paid for by student loans, compliments of the government. Without those loans I would definately have not been able to go to college. Same for graduate school. So I lucked out in that I had good, supportive teachers growing up, and that the government was there to help me along the way.

So anyway, lots of kids in this country don't have even these most basic opportunities available to them. While they probably go to school, it's probably not a very good school. Their parents are working more than one job just to survive and can't afford to send them to a better school. They grow up with a sub-par education and don't even consider college to be an option. So this is what John Edwards is hoping to work against.

This has me thinking alot about what I'm doing here. I know I'm not completely happy doing what I'm doing, and this has me considering why. I have always been concerned about other people (hello, that's why I'm a democrat), but right now I'm not doing anything to help anybody. If I end up with my PhD I'll just be doing research on climate change, la di dah. I want to make a difference in someone's life.

So yeah, I've been rambling, so I should get back to work.

Welcome to the table

It looks like Colin Powell's "right-hand man" is coming out against the Administration.

What I saw was a cabal between the vice president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld," he said. By cutting out the bureaucracy that had to carry out those decisions, "we have courted disaster in Iraq, in North Korea, in Iran, and generally with regard to domestic crises like Katrina." If there is a nuclear terrorist attack or a major pandemic, Wilkerson continued, "you are going to see the ineptitude of this government in a way that'll take you back to the Declaration of Independence."

The colonel said his old boss is not pleased with his decision to go public with his criticism. Powell, he said, "is the world's most loyal soldier." Wilkerson said he admired that, but he took a different view of loyalty: not to the administration, but to the country.

Way to go Colonel Wilkerson, It's about time people start telling the truth about what the Bush administration has done to our country.

Speeches

Finally! We know who's the genius behind Bush's speeches.

http://gprime.net/video.php/presidentialspeechalist

Climate Mash

Check it out!

http://www.climatemash.org/

Scatology?

"No more public scatology."

A note from Govorner George W. Bush to Harriet Miers, Supreme Court Justice nominee.

Main Entry: sca·tol·o·gy
Pronunciation: ska-'tä-l&-jE, sk&-
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek skat-, skOr excrement; akin to Old English scearn dung, Latin muscerdae mouse droppings
1 : interest in or treatment of obscene matters especially in literature
2 : the biologically oriented study of excrement (as for taxonomic purposes or for the determination of diet)


Interesting...you think he knew what that big word meant before he wrote it?

Capitalists make bad Christians

Okay, so I don't write very well, so I really like it when I come across an article that says what I've been trying to say. So here's my deal. I think that Americans have a really screwed up idea of what makes a good Christian. Americans think that you are a good Christian if you hate gay people, hate people on welfare, hate abortions. It's all about hating things. Jesus' teachings were about loving, and caring for those in need. How many Christians do you know live those ideals?

This article was printed in the Daily Texan. I'm going to post the parts of it I especially liked, but I recommend reading it all.

Near the end of his life, Karl Marx famously lamented, "I am not a Marxist." His words reflected a frustration with individuals and societies he thought had distorted the true message of his writings.
If Jesus returned to Earth today and found himself in America, would he say, "I am not a Christian?"

I have to say, I think that he most definately would

Would he look upon mega-churches, television stations and millionaire preachers and see his essence reflected? Would he rather visit an anti-gay rally or a homeless shelter?

Americans seem to be neglecting the lessons of their savior. In the United States, 18 percent of children live in poverty. Only 8 percent of children in Sweden, whose population is largely nonreligious, are poverty stricken. Ideas such as privatizing Social Security, eliminating welfare and a disdain for public health care are hard to justify from a Christian perspective. If church leaders spent more time inspiring volunteer service and charity in their congregations, and less time blaming others for the ills of society, the United States would be a far better nation. How can individuals call themselves Christian but not make great strides to help those in need?

I especially like how he talks about church leaders spending more time inspiring volunteer service. So much religion, especially here in the Bible belt, is focused on hate. Is that what it's really supposed to be about?

As written in Leviticus, his message is clear: "Love thy neighbor as thyself." To be a Christian, compassion must remain a central tenet of one's belief. Even the most cursory examination of scripture will reveal this, while more thorough readings reaffirm the same underlying principal.

Thank you Ian Greenleigh.

Holy Rusted the other Republican Leader might be in shit too!!!!!!

This might just be the best day of my life. No, not because all these republicans are scumbags, but because it's finally coming out that they are scumbags. Exactly what I've been saying all along.

Turns out that conveniently Mr. Bill "cat-killer" Frist made somewhere between $2 and $6 million by selling his HCA holdings just before the stocks plummeted due to a bad earnings report.

Let's compare this to Martha, shall we. She made a mere $50,000 off her insider trading.

Holy Crap

I never thought it would happen, but Tom DeLay has been indicted!

A Travis County grand jury today indicted U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on one count of criminal conspiracy, jeopardizing the Sugar Land Republican's leadership role as the second most powerful Texan in Washington, D.C.

The charge, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years incarceration, stems from his role with his political committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, a now-defunct organization that already had been indicted on charges of illegally using corporate money during the 2002 legislative elections.

School

I'm thinking of not staying at UT. I'm not sure my heart's in it. I'm looking for other things I can do. Any suggestions?

WOW

Wow...that's all.

Evolution Schmevolution

Okay, so I've been in the Geology department for a couple weeks now. I have to say, I think I like it. I am surprised at the difference between this and atmospheric sciences.

In atmospheric sciences people could cling to whatever beliefs of the world they have, pretty much. Anything having to do with the past doesn't have an impact on the weather tomorrow unless you're studying climate or something.

But here, people actually laugh at people who think the world is younger than 4.5 billion years as well as people who think evolution is a load of crap. The world we live in today is so crazy. People who don't agree with science try to make it look like the scientists are debating it. But let me tell you, there is no debate. (Yes, there are debates on the specifics, but as far as evolution as a whole goes, it is widely accepted in the scientific community)

I love the class I'm teaching because one of the main points the professor is trying to get across is the difference between science, nonscience, and nonsense. So basically he's trying to show them what goes into coming up with a scientific theory, and how other ideas such as intellegent design aren't actually science.

And as one last disclaimer, I'm not attacking religion here. I, for one, don't believe that evolution and creationism are necessarily mutually exclusive. Something could have still been created in the beginning, and then evolved. Although I will say that evolution does make it so that genisis can't be taken literally, at all. But yeah, I'm gonna go with science over blind faith any day.

America's Battered Wife Syndrome

There are so many funny people in the world. I really wish I was one of them.
*sigh*
But seriously, this article is so true...

href="href="http://12thharmonic.com/wordpress/index.php/2005/09/07/americas-battered-wife-syndrome/">America's Battered Wife Syndrome

Kids say the darndest things...

"What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle) – this is working very well for them." –Former First Lady Barbara Bush, on the Hurricane flood evacuees in the Houston Astrodome, Sept. 5, 2005 (Source)

Update

Well, I've been really busy and haven't posted in a while. I'm still really busy and don't have too much time to post.
Danny and I got married. The wedding went well. A few glitches, but overall I think people enjoyed themselves. Our honeymoon was great. We're now back in Austin. We're working on setting up our house, and I've started school at UT. Overall things are pretty good right now. Just extremely busy.
Okay, back to work though, just wanted to post to say I'm alive. :)

Stressed out

FYI, I highly reccommend, not trying to move and get married all at the same time. Or at least move to a different city than where the wedding is. :-/

Going Home

Well, Danny has left New York and is on his way home. I'm very excited. I'm still in Austin. I've done lots of painting and trying to get the hosue ready to move in. Tuesday is when all of my furniature is getting moved here. *sigh* That's all I know for now.
Think of Danny on his drive home that he makes it safely.

15 more days!

Independent Thinker?

So the other day I was talking with people about Kinky for govornor. I mentioned that I wasn't going to vote for him because I've done research and I think he's a nutjob. He implied that because I wouldn't vote for him I wasn't an independent thinker and I was incapable of voting for anyone that wasn't a democrat. (Let me note that this guy knew nothing about Kinky or any of his ideas) Now this just made me laugh. Because let me say that I take each candidate for what they are. I don't give a shit about the letter next to their name. What I care about is that they are HONEST, sincere, generally care about their constituents, and have the same ideals as me. (Treat people as I would want to be treated). That's all. They can be republican, democrat, independent, it doesn't matter to me. (in fact, I'd pretty much prefer that they weren't associated with a party, I don't want them to be forced to pander to anybody besides their constituents) This is in contrast to many people I know who only vote for people with that R next to their name and won't even investigate the democratic candidate. They just take the word of the republicans about the democrats, or make assumptions about democrats. Most of them don't even understand what it means to be a liberal or progressive. (Yes, I know this happens on the other side, I just don't know anybody like that, and the majority of people I know are the other way).

Bullshit

Well, it turns out Bush went behind Congress's back and appointed Bolton. Can't say I'm really surprised. He is such an arrogant ass hole that is exactly his style. If he had just turned over the documents that Congress had been asking for, and if they didnt' say what we all suspect they say (that Bolton sucks and is a horrible person for this job) then he would get approved by the Senate without a problem. But no, this is the administration's way. Hide information from the public, and then make it look like they're the ones that are being victimized. I'm so tired of it. They did the same thing with the Valerie Plame/Wilson. They were saying that they released Plame's name because they were trying to discredit Wilson and his findings. Well, if Wilson's findings were so absurd, why didn't they just discredit them? Because they weren't absurd, and they went against the administration's longtime goal of invading Iraq. Bullshit.

Missing

Well, my cousin Chip has been missing since saturday night. He lives in a group home in Illinois and he had gone out to a bar next to the home. Some people had seen him on their way home and asked him if he needed a ride, but he said he'd walk home in a little while.
So yeah, no sign of him since. He was supposed to go to his Dad's for dinner last night, which he loves to do, but he never showed up. So we don't know what happened, but everyone is very worried. So please be thinking of him and especially his Dad, Ginger and his brother and sister.

UPDATE: They found him. Turns out he had decided to go off and have himself some fun and not tell anybody. Lets just say that he's in trouble is an understatement.