Miniature Earth

ok, when I said I'd try to post a couple of times per week I actually meant a couple of times per month. :)

I'll keep this one brief. I've seen some pretty cool videos on Best of YouTube. Here are a couple I particularly like. You can also subscribe to Best of YouTube as a podcast. Enjoy.

Miniature Earth



Crazy Upper Body Strength



Paul Hunt Gymnastics Routine 1988



And this one's just pretty, here's the Northern Lights

Old Connections

Have you spent much time on Facebook? You can easily get sucked in for longer than you imagined. It’s an interesting way to keep in touch with people and reconnect with folks you haven’t spoken to in many, many years. Case in point: A few weeks ago I got a friend request from a woman I knew in junior high school, we were Branciforte Bees together way back in the day! I was trying to remember the last time we spoke and as near as I can pin point it I think it we were juniors in high school. By that time we were at different high schools and had started to drift apart somewhat. Anyway, she lives in Poulsbo now! I was planning to be on Bainbridge Sunday for a potluck at a friend’s house and thought “What the heck, we should try to get together for a cuppa or something!”

I took the 10:35 ferry over, got off the ferry and looked around somewhat bewildered wondering how in the heck would I ever find her. I heard my name, my junior high name which I decline to share with you here ;) and recognized her instantly! The memories came flooding back. We both proclaimed the other hadn’t changed a bit. Perhaps regarding curves and figures, well, let's just say we don’t have our 17 year old bodies any longer, but our faces, wow, those haven’t changed.

Do you have any friends that you can go for weeks, months, years without speaking to and when you see one another again you pick right up where you left off? Katie is one of those friends. We were instantly comfortable together, talking about everything/anything, I found myself telling her things that I haven’t ever told anyone except my mother, there was just that wonderful ease of presence together. What a wonderful feeling. And then there is all that shared history as well. We chatted and laughed trying to fit all of the last 25+ years into the conversation right now. Then I realized it was past 3 o’clock and I really ought to make an appearance at the pot luck, I had brought a frangipani tart and everything.

I am certain that we will see one another again soon, and I can’t wait!

Change Out Race 8/30/08

There's lots that has been happening and I'd like to bring you up to speed. It would be far too much to post it all in one blog entry. I think I may post multiple individual entries on a given day. Just fyi!

Saturday August 30 was the big change out race that SSP and Kikaha co-host in Lake Washington. The course starts out at the SSP beach heading east towards Kirkland until we pass the point near the dog park, then we head south under the eastern highrise of the 520, along the Bellevue and the western coast of Mercer Island, under the western span of I-90, around the southern tip of Mercer Island, under the eastern span of I-90, back north under the eastern highrise of the 520, around the point and back to SSP. An easy 26 miles!

It’s called a change out race because we have a nine member crew, 6 in the OC and 3 in the escort boat. Periodically the escort boat will drop paddlers into the water and the OC will come alongside them, they grab the gunnel and heave their-selves into the moving boat as their seats occupants fling themselves out the other side to be retrieved shortly by the escort boat, another experience in heaving ones-self into a boat. We do this over and over until the race is finished! When in the OC you paddle long and hard, trying not to think about being tired or thirsty (we don’t wear our hydration packs during a change out, we keep bottles of liquids in the escort boat), or cramps, just paddle strong until your seat is called to jump out of the boat. Once in the escort boat I change my wet shirt for a dry one, put on my fleece, and start re-hydrating and snacking for the next go round.

There was one other women’s crew, they were from Kikaha. They started out strong, staying in front of us for the first mile or so until their first change. Their second crew was not as strong and we were able to overtake them. They were changing more frequently than we were, every 15-20 minutes to our 20-30 minutes. At times we were ¼ mile ahead of them, at others they were nearly even with us. Being that close made them hungry to catch us and made us hungry to stay ahead of them.

At the last two miles of the race we made what we thought would be our last crew change and Kikaha brought back their strongest crew, we could hear their yells, they were entirely too close for comfort! Kristen wanted Lianne and Minnie back in the boat NOW! They had only jumped out maybe five minutes earlier. Our finishing line up was Meilee, Lianne, Melissa, Jen, Minnie, and Kristen. Within a couple of minutes Kikaha’s voices faded to silence. The SSP women went on to beat them by over a minute. What an excellent race! It was awesome to have such close competition really keeping both crews motivated.

The full SSP women’s crew was (in alphabetical order): Jen, Lianne, Kristen, Meilee, Melissa, Minnie, Rives, Shelly, and Tanja. Way to go ladies!!! And big mahalos to Dave for being our male escort (boat driver) and Marth for coordinating our changes!