I love the Olympics! I hate group work!
I thought the opening ceremony was fabulous! There were some years that the opening didn’t do it for me. The French ceremony wasn’t very appealing (OK, I thought it was weird) and sumo wrestlers aren’t exactly my thing either. But this year’s was incredible!
I’m finally getting to see things I want: gymnastics and diving. I’ve seen swimming as well, including a number of broken records. Beach volleyball got more interesting once it started pouring rain.
Every time I see the girls on the uneven parallel bars, I remember taking gymnastics in high school in gym. It wasn’t pretty. I almost fell over the horse a couple of times as the spotters backed up rather than be spotters. I know we had to write our own routines for the balance beam, floor, and unevens, each having certain elements. I don’t remember if I ever fell off of anything, but I know the floor routine was the only one that wasn’t scary! It’s hard to fall off the floor! 
My on-line program is sort of going OK. One thing we have to do is form learning teams. Well, we’re assigned the people, but we have to accomplish certain tasks. This week’s tasks were simple — fill out this document and choose a coordinator. The coordinator’s job is to turn things in, basically. So, my three team-mates: C posts his share of the form’s information on Friday and says he won’t be on-line over the weekend so whatever we do is fine with him. The form is due today, so in effect he has just refused to be the learning team coordinator and has refused to vote on any version of the document or even vote for anyone else being coordinator. S adds her information Saturday morning and hasn’t been back since. W adds his Saturday night but has ignored my other posts about the revised version as well as coordinator. All threads in the team forum are started by me, trying to accomplish what we’re supposed to do. I send e-mails in addition to the forum posts. Nothing. No one says boo. I post reminders.
Finally, I submit the final version — which I’ve created based on the information provided to me, and I submit myself as the coordinator because otherwise we’ll be late and get marked off. As it is, we’re likely to get marked down because the final version wasn’t voted on at all. In the meantime, you can see what’s happening in the other team forums as well, and I look longingly at the groups that are actually working together and communicating with each other. I hate group work, especially when the two words become mutually exclusive!!
I didn’t get to watch the opening ceremonies, but it was a big deal here in Central New York because Tully grad Lopez Lomong had the honor of carrying the American flag into the stadium. Since he was all over the national news, you probably know his story, but if not…Lopez is one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. He became a U.S. citizen a year ago).
I thought about you on Sunday when Geoff and I met Jason and his friends in Rochester and went to the Red Wings baseball game (there was even a women in front of us who looked like you). Frontier Field puts Alliance Bank Stadium (I think it was P&C when you were here) to shame. The food choices alone were amazing (and they even have allergen free food and a “no nuts zone” in the stadium).
Comment by Meghan — August 12, 2008 @ 4:43 am |
Yes, they talked a lot about Lopez on the news in the days before the Opening Ceremonies! What a life!
Yes, it was P&C stadium! They were talking about building a new one that was better, but I don’t think I ever went to a game in it!
Comment by pawnhandler — August 13, 2008 @ 7:33 pm |
It’s a little crazier here with Lopez because our local media lives and breathes his (and his family’s) every move (I think people are starting to get irritated). Yesterday the media met his parents at the airport to watch them leave for Beijing. Even his dad made a comment that sounded like he thought it was all a little much. Oh well.
We talk a lot about building new things here that are better…but it never happens. Prime example…Destiny USA . Technically they are doing work, but if you drive by all you see are steel beams sticking up out of the ground. I went to a conference recently and sat next to a guy who used to live here (more than 10 years ago). He asked if they were finished yet, since it was in the planning stages when he moved to Buffalo. It tried not to laugh when I told him about their progress.
The only improvements they have made to the stadium – an electric sign by the main entrance to the parking lot and grass field (instead of the turf no one liked). Same old beautiful swamp landscaping beyond the outfield wall (I’m thinking of adding some of that in my backyard).
Comment by Meghan — August 14, 2008 @ 4:47 am |